How Cyclone Freddy is on track to become the longest-lasting cyclone on record, after swirling in the southern Indian Ocean for 34 days

The North Indian Ocean basin received a list of names for cyclones from the World Meteorological Organization (WMO) in 2000.

It employs a list of names recommended by nations bordering the ocean basin. India initially urged the other nations to exercise caution when naming cyclones. characterised by a big low-pressure centre and numerous storms that produce a lot of wind and rain.

When rising moist air is heated, the water vapour contained in the moist air condenses, which is how tropical cyclones are created. A hurricane is a storm that forms off the coast of Florida; a typhoon is one that forms off the coast of the Philippines.

Typhoons form in the Pacific and hurricanes in the Atlantic. Whereas tornadoes are storms that form on land, hurricanes and typhoons are ocean storms that form from the surface of the water. Many regions of the world have different names for cyclones. It goes by the name Hurricane on the American continent. 

According to the database of past hurricane tracks maintained by NOAA, Freddy is one of only four tropical storms to have crossed the whole southern Indian Ocean. It was only the 20th tropical storm to do so in the South Indian Ocean since 1989 when it reached its peak intensity of Category 5 hurricane-equivale,

The devastating Cyclone Freddy made landfall in Madagascar on February 21 before moving west and making a rare landfall in Mozambique, in southern Africa, on February 24. According to the Associated Press, Freddy was held responsible for the deaths of 21 individuals in both countries. 

The leftover Freddy circulation, which had survived its land encounter with Mozambique, looped around and re-emerged over the Mozambique Channel between southern Africa and the Indian Ocean. 

After circling in the southern Indian Ocean for 34 days, Cyclone Freddy is on track to set a new record for the longest-lasting cyclone. This accomplishment shows how far meteorologists have come in their grasp of how weather systems function.

Understanding both the scientific foundation and the social implications of this event is necessary to write about it adequately. first, it’s crucial to comprehend what makes Cyclone Freddy so exceptional: it has survived without any outside energy supply or surrounding land areas’ wetness. It is partly due to the favourable air circumstances, such as little wind shear and mild sea surface temperatures, that this storm has been able to endure so long. 

Freddy is already the all-time record holder for the Southern Hemisphere in terms of Accumulated Cyclone Energy (ACE), an integrated metric that takes into account the frequency, intensity, and duration of tropical cyclones, and is currently closing in on the world record.

Freddy has already broken the record set by the ACE of Cyclone Fantala in 2016, which was for the Southern Hemisphere, according to Phil Klotzbach, a tropical weather specialist at Colorado State University.

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