Cyclone Horacio: East of Madagascar, Indian Ocean | Meteosat-12 Weather Satellite

Cyclone Horacio: East of Madagascar, Indian Ocean | Meteosat-12 Weather Satellite

Cyclone Horacio, captured on February 23, 2026, by the Flexible Combined Imager (FCI) instrument onboard Europe's Meteosat-12 geostationary weather satellite at an altitude of around 36,000 kilometers. Currently positioned far to the east of Madagascar, the cyclone is forecast to move south and gradually weaken. The Meteosat weather satellites provide imagery for the early detection of fast-developing severe weather, weather forecasting and climate monitoring.

The progression of the storm can be followed every ten minutes on EUMETView: https://view.eumetsat.int/productviewer?v=180312

In meteorology, a cyclone is a large air mass that rotates around a strong center of low atmospheric pressure, counterclockwise in the Northern Hemisphere and clockwise in the Southern Hemisphere as viewed from above (opposite to an anticyclone). Cyclones are characterized by inward-spiraling winds that rotate about a zone of low pressure. Cyclones have also been seen on planets other than the Earth, such as Mars, Jupiter, and Neptune.

Madagascar, officially the Republic of Madagascar, is an island country in the Indian Ocean that includes the island of Madagascar and numerous smaller peripheral islands. Lying off the southeastern coast of Africa, it is the world's fourth-largest island, the second-largest island country, and the 46th-largest country overall. 

Launched on December 13, 2022, Meteosat-12 scans the full Earth disc every 10 minutes, delivering data more frequently and in sharper detail than its predecessor. It carries two main instruments: the Flexible Combined Imager (FCI) and Lightning Imager (LI). The FCI delivers imaging data in twice as many spectral channels than its predecessor and with an improved spatial resolution, providing more detailed views of fast-changing weather such as storms, fog, and rapidly forming clouds. The satellite also carries the LI, Europe’s first space-based instrument to detect lightning across Europe and Africa, day and night, helping forecasters assess storm development, intensity, and risk.

EUMETSAT has established cooperation with Earth observation satellite operators in Europe, China, India, Japan, South Korea and the United States.

Learn more:
https://www.eumetsat.int/who-we-are

United Nations: What is Climate Change?
https://www.un.org/en/climatechange/what-is-climate-change

Image Credit: European Organization for the Exploitation of Meteorological Satellites (EUMETSAT)
Release Date: Jan. 8, 2026

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