In April 2017, Tropical Cyclone Cook delivered strong winds and heavy rain to Vanuatu, an island nation in the South Pacific; it then strengthened as it moved toward New Caledonia.
The Visible Infrared Imaging Radiometer Suite (VIIRS) on the Suomi NPP satellite captured this image of Cook at 1:54 p.m. local time (02:54 Universal Time) on April 10, 2017, as it spun over New Caledonia. A few hours before this image, the storm’s maximum sustained winds measured 85 knots (155 kilometers or 100 miles per hour)—a category 2 storm on the Saffir-Simpson wind scale.
According to news reports, the cyclone had downed trees and blocked roads on Grande Terre, New Caledonia’s main island. The storm made landfall at high tide, so authorities anticipated severe flooding.
NASA image by Jeff Schmaltz, LANCE/EOSDIS Rapid Response. Caption by Kathryn Hansen.
