Hurricane Catarina

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Hurricane Catarina, or Cyclone Catarina (Portuguese pronunciation: [kataˈɾinɐ]) was the only recorded hurricane-strength South Atlantic tropical cyclone. Catarina made landfall in the South Region of Brazil at peak intensity as a Category 2-equivalent tropical cyclone on 28 March 2004. The storm developed out of a stationary cold-core upper-level trough on 12 March. Almost a week later, on 19 March, a disturbance developed along the trough and traveled towards the west-southwest until 22 March when a ridge stopped the forward motion of the disturbance. The disturbance was in an unusually favorable environment with slightly below-average wind shear and above-average sea surface temperatures. The combination of the two led to a slow transition from an extratropical cyclone to a subtropical cyclone by 24 March. The storm continued to obtain tropical characteristics and became a tropical storm the next day while the winds steadily increased. The storm attained wind speeds of 121 km/h (75 mph...

Read on Wikipedia · Image Jeff Schmaltz, MODIS Rapid Response Team, NASA/GSFC, Public domain