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Cyclone Ami Devastates Fiji

This dramatic image captures the swath of rain deposited by Cyclone Ami in the southwestern Pacific. The image was created using data from the NASA/JAXA Tropical Rainfall Measurement Mission (TRMM) and other rainfall measuring satellites. Cyclone Ami passed through the Fiji Island chain and caused extensive damage from flooding rains, high winds and storm surge. The cyclone was the worst storm to strike Fiji since 1987. Cyclone Ami was born in south Pacific waters as part of a vigorous "twin cyclone" system straddling the equator. These twin cyclones are occasionally spawned by the Tropical Intraseasonal Oscillation as it moves eastward out of the Indian Ocean and toward the International Dateline. The northern vortex of the pair, yet to be assigned an official name, is being monitored for development as it moves into the open waters of the northwestern Pacific.