Image: Mocha 2023-05-14 0050Z

Description: This true-color image of Extremely Severe Cyclonic Storm Mocha over the Bay of Bengal was captured on the morning of 14 May 2023 at 00:50 UTC, which corresponds to 07:20 AM in Myanmar, by the Advanced Himawari Imager (AHI) instrument flying aboard Japan Meteorological Agencys' Himawari 9 satellite. Mocha was an extremely powerful tropical cyclone, and it was the second depression and first named storm of the 2023 North Indian Ocean cyclone season. It originated from a monsoonal trough over the Bay of Bengal in early May 2023. When this image was taken, Mocha was at its peak intensity and was still approaching Myanmar, where it made landfall later in the day. It brought bring high winds, storm surges, and heavy rain. So far, Mocha has contributed to 400+ causalities in Myanmar as of 20 May, and the damage cost is $1.07 million (2023 USD). The intensity of the cyclone when this image was taken was winds of 215 km/h (130 mph) (115 knots) on the 3-min Indian Meteorological Department cyclone scale, making it an "Extremely Severe Cyclonic Storm" on the scale, and according to the Joint Typhoon Warning Center, it had 1-min sustained winds of 280 km/h (175 mph) (150 knots) making it equivalent to a "Category 5 major hurricane," on the Saffir-Simpson Hurricane Wind Scale the fourth to reach that intensity during the year so far, the official minimum central pressure (provided by the IMD) was 938 mbar (27.7 inHg).
Title: Mocha 2023-05-14 0050Z
Credit: AWS S3 Explorer
Author: AHI imagery from JMA's Himawari 9 Satellite
Usage Terms: Creative Commons Attribution 4.0
License: CC BY 4.0
License Link: https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0
Attribution Required?: Yes