Tropical Cyclone Freddy has become
the longest-lived named
tropical cyclone ever,
beating out Hurricane--and
then Typhoon--John back in the 1990s.
Freddy formed between
Indonesia and Australia,
and then headed nearly straight west.
Its intensity fluctuated,
but at one point
became the first Category
5 tropical cyclone in 2023.
Freddy was so long-lived
because the ocean during its entire
track was very warm
and because the steering currents
over the vast
expanses of the Indian Ocean
took it pretty much straight
east to west.
After crossing the Indian Ocean,
Freddy crashed into Madagascar,
causing a lot of damage,
and then continued
and made landfall in Mozambique,
where it caused
additional damage due
to flooding and landslides.
By the time it got to Mozambique,
the steering currents in the atmosphere
had decreased.
So Freddy sort of wandered around back
over the Mozambique Channel,
almost back to Madagascar.
Then it restrengthened
and made another landfall in Mozambique
where it caused
additional damage and fatalities.
The IMERG precipitation dataset
lets us monitor the rainfall that Freddy
and other systems produce,
no matter where it happens
over land or over ocean.