On 2 May 2008, category-4 tropical cyclone Nargis devastated Myanmar. It was observed that just prior to its landfall, Nargis rapidly intensified from a weak category-1 storm to an intense category-4 storm within only 24 h. Using in situ ocean depth-temperature measurements and satellite altimetry, it is found that Nargis' rapid intensification took place on a pre-existing warm ocean anomaly in the Bay of Bengal. In the anomaly, the subsurface ocean is evidently warmer than climatology, as characterized by the depth of the 26°C isotherm of 73–101 m and the tropical cyclone heat potential of 77–105 kj cm⁻². This pre-existing deep, warm subsurface layer leads to reduction in the cyclone-induced ocean cooling, as shown from the ocean mixed layer numerical experiments. As a result, there was a near 300% increase in the air-sea enthalpy flux to support Nargis' rapid intensification.