Cyclone Hidaya

• Tropical Cyclone Hidaya made landfall on Mafia Island, located south-southeast of Dar es Salaam, Tanzania’s largest city, on May 4, 2024.
• It significantly lost its strength upon making landfall but brought heavy rainfall to parts of Tanzania, with specific weather stations reporting significant rainfall amounts within a short period.

ABOUT TROPICAL CYCLONE

• Tropical cyclones are violent storms that originate over oceans in tropical areas and move over to the coastal areas bringing about large-scale destruction caused by violent winds, very heavy rainfall and storm surges.
• These storms derive their energy from the warm ocean waters, typically with sea surface temperatures of at least 5°C (80°F).
• The conditions favourable for the formation and intensification of tropical storms are:
  • Large sea surface with temperature higher than 27° C.
  • Presence of the Coriolis force.
  • Small variations in the vertical wind speed.
  • A pre-existing weak low- pressure area or low-level-cyclonic circulation.
  • Upper divergence above the sea level system.
• Tropical cyclones are known by different names in different regions of the world:
  • In the North Atlantic Ocean and eastern North Pacific, they are called
  • In the western North Pacific (around the Philippines, Japan, and China), they are known as
  • In the western South Pacific and Indian Ocean, they are referred to as