Tropical Cyclone Bianca grazed the coastline of Western Australia in late January 2011. At 5:00 a.m. on January 27 local time (21:00 UTC on January 26), the U.S. Navy’s Joint Typhoon Warning Center (JTWC) reported that Bianca was located about 200 nautical miles (370 kilometers) north-northeast of Learmonth, Western Australia. The storm had maximum sustained winds of 60 knots (110 kilometers per hour) with gusts up to 75 knots (140 kilometers per hour).
The Moderate Resolution Imaging Spectroradiometer (MODIS) on NASA’s Terra satellite captured this natural-color image at 11:00 a.m. Western Australia time (3:00 UTC) on January 27, 2011. A black line delineates the Australian coastline. Bianca’s eye appears north-northeast of the city of Learmonth.
The JTWC forecast that Bianca would continue to roughly trace the Western Australia coastline over the next day or so. Bianca was expected to intensify somewhat before weakening due to reduced sea surface temperatures and increased vertical wind shear.
NASA image by Jeff Schmaltz, MODIS Rapid Response Team, Goddard Space Flight Center. Caption by Michon Scott.
