Tropical Cyclone Mala formed in the Bay of Bengal on April 24, 2006. The cyclone has been gradually building strength and size. As of April 26, it was projected to head towards Myanmar, possibly coming ashore there on or around April 29, after grazing along the Andaman Islands. It was not projected to become a particularly powerful storm before reaching the mainland.
This photo-like image was acquired by the Moderate Resolution Imaging Spectroradiometer (MODIS) on the Terra satellite on April 26, 2006, at 10:35 a.m. local time (04:35 UTC). Cyclone Mala at this time had a basic rounded form, but lacked the well-developed eye, tight-wound shape, and strong winds of a powerful storm. Sustained, peak winds in the storm system were roughly 80 kilometers per hour (50 miles per hour) around the time the image was captured.
NASA image by Jesse Allen, Earth Observatory, using data obtained from the Goddard Earth Sciences DAAC.
