Meteorological History
An area of convection was first spotted on December 15 west-southwest of Diego Garcia. Moving west, it gained some organisation, causing the JTWC to issue a TCFA on it. It was designated a tropical disturbance on December 17 by Météo-France. The JTWC upgraded it to a tropical cyclone on December 18, and later that day Météo-France upgraded the storm to a moderate tropical storm. The Subregional Tropical Cyclone Advisory Centre in Mauritius named the storm Bondo, a name contributed to the list by Malawi. Following a quick bout of intensification, on December 19 MF reported that Bondo had strengthened into a severe tropical storm. At the next advisory, MF reported that Bondo had undergone rapid intensification, breaking Dvorak rules, and upgraded it to tropical cyclone intensity. The JTWC noted that the tropical cyclone had "intensified at a greater than climatological rate" due to good radial outflow as it upgraded the storm from an equivalent of a strong tropical storm at 0300 UTC December 19 to a Category 3-equivalent at 1500 UTC.
Further strengthening that day saw Bondo upgraded to an intense tropical cyclone, peaking at 205 km/h (125 mph ) and 930 hPa. After going through an eyewall replacement cycle, the storm began to weaken. Continuing to track south-southwestward as it weakened, it crossed an area of lower vertical wind shear and began to restrengthen near the northern tip of Madagascar on December 23. Moving south-southwest parallel to the coast of Madagascar, it reached a secondary peak of 75 knots (139 km/h) from Météo-France before starting to weaken as it was about to make landfall. It made landfall around 1215 UTC, and the JTWC declared the storm dissipating over land at 1800 UTC, while Météo-France designated the storm as an inland depression. On December 26 M-F reported that the original low associated with Bondo had dissipated and a new low had formed associated with the system over sea. The RSMC La Reunion stopped issuing advisories later that day.
Read more about this topic: Cyclone Bondo
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