Strongest typhoon of the year slams Philippines

[Omaha Steve]

Source: AP-Excite

By JIM GOMEZ

MANILA, Philippines (AP) - One of the most powerful typhoons ever recorded slammed into the Philippines early Friday, and one weather expert warned, "There will be catastrophic damage."

The U.S. Navy's Joint Typhoon Warning Center shortly before Typhoon Haiyan's landfall said its maximum sustained winds were 314 kilometers per hour (195 mph), with gusts up to 379 kilometers per hour (235 mph).

"195-mile-per-hour winds, there aren't too many buildings constructed that can withstand that kind of wind," said Jeff Masters, a former hurricane meteorologist who is meteorology director at the private firm Weather Underground.

Masters said the storm had been poised to be the strongest tropical cyclone ever recorded at landfall. He warned of catastrophic damage.

FULL story at link.


Read more: http://apnews.excite.com/article/20131107/DA9U268O3.html

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This Thursday, Nov. 7, 2013 satellite image provided by the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration shows Typhoon Haiyan over the Philippines, at 22:30 UTC (5:30 p.m. EST). Haiyan, the world's strongest typhoon of the year, slammed into the Philippines early Friday. It had been poised to be the strongest tropical cyclone ever recorded at landfall, a weather expert said. (AP Photo/NOAA)

[Marrah_G]

1. Whoa, those are some strong winds

[indepat]

2. Reminds me of images of Katrina about 3am the morning she made land-fall

[DLnyc]

3. Much worse than Katrina, I think.

Last edited Fri Nov 8, 2013, 01:37 AM - Edit history (1)

I don't think I ever saw these annimations get up to white before. And it doesn't look like landfall slowed it down much at all. Very scary!



on edit: Now, at 4:30 UTC, seems to have broken up quite a bit, as far as I can tell.

[kentauros]

4. I know what 135 mph winds are like.

I simply cannot make my mind imagine 235 mph!

[DLnyc]

5. Sounds more like tornado winds

[happyslug]

7. Tornado's wind are faster but smaller in area and duration

Most tornadoes have wind speeds less than 110 miles per hour (177 km/h), are about 250 feet (76 m) across, and travel a few miles (several kilometers) before dissipating. The most extreme tornadoes can attain wind speeds of more than 300 miles per hour (483 km/h), stretch more than two miles (3.2 km) across, and stay on the ground for dozens of miles (more than 100 km)

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tornado


Maximum sustained winds in the strongest tropical cyclones have been estimated at about 85 metres per second (165 kn) or 195 miles per hour (314 km/h)

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tropical_cyclone#Hurricane_or_Typhoon

[Socialistlemur]

11. It's close to the most powerful but apparently there were worse.

Typhoons Tip and Ida apparently were stronger. Ida is a 1959 hurricane. I forget the year Tip happened. Hurricane Camille and a few others came close to this theoretical upper limit.

[happyslug]

13. Class V Hurricanes/Typhoon is as high as you can go

Using Computers to model Hurricane (The North American name for a Typhoon) if the VOLUME of Wind going the max speed in a Class V hurricane, would break up the hurricane into smaller storms (Thus there are only five classes of Hurricane).

Tornado's, being smaller AND part of a larger strom (mostly thunderstorms) thus do not have the VOLUME of wind to break up the thunderstorm, thus can survive to produce higher winds. Thus one of the differences between the two storms.

The Wind Gusts of a Hurricane are more like a Tornado in that a Tornado is NOT the storm itself. A Tornado is always part of a thunderstorm (and could in theory be part of a Hurricane). On the other hand a Hurricane is like a thunderstorm, the larger weather phenomena that the blasts of wind (Wind gusts or tornado's) are part of.

Camile is still the most powerful storm to hit land (Tip and one other strom had faster winds, but only at sea, when they hit land they were much weaker then they had been just days before, unlike Camille that hit land with winds at the highest recorded speeds for that storm).

I See Wikipedia has updated itself to include this storm:

The highest sustained winds on record for a tropical cyclone were recorded for Typhoon Haiyan which reached 195 miles per hour (314 km/h) sustained winds shortly before making landfall in the central Philippines on Nov. 8, 2013 . The previous record-holder and still most intense (lowest pressure) storm was Typhoon Tip in the northwestern Pacific Ocean in 1979, which reached a minimum pressure of 870 mbar (652.5 mmHg) and maximum sustained wind speeds of 165 knots (85 m/s) or 190 miles per hour (310 km/h). Tip, however, does not solely hold the record for the second strongest sustained winds in a cyclone. Typhoon Keith in the Pacific and Hurricanes Camille and Allen in the North Atlantic currently share this mark with Tip. Until Haiyan, Camille was the only storm to actually strike land while at that intensity, making it, with 165 knots (85 m/s) or 190 miles per hour (310 km/h) sustained winds and 183 knots (94 m/s) or 210 miles per hour (340 km/h) gusts. Typhoon Nancy in 1961 had recorded wind speeds of 185 knots (95 m/s) or 215 miles per hour (346 km/h) but recent research indicates that wind speeds from the 1940s to the 1960s were gauged too high, and this is no longer considered the storm with the highest wind speeds on record. Likewise, a surface-level gust caused by Typhoon Paka on Guam was recorded at 205 knots (105 m/s) or 235 miles per hour (378 km/h). Had it been confirmed, it would be the strongest non-tornadic wind ever recorded on the Earth's surface, but the reading had to be discarded since the anemometer was damaged by the storm.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tropical_cyclone#Hurricane_or_Typhoon

[groundloop]

8. Yes it is tornado strength winds, F3 to F4 at that.

And that fact that there's that much wind which will last for a very long time, coupled with the fact that it's spread over a much larger area than a tornado.... mind boggling destruction.

[DLnyc]

9. Yes, I think you are right.

Winds typical of a serious (although not the strongest) tornado, but spread over a very wide area and lasting a long time. A recipe for massive devastation, I am afraid!

[TreasonousBastard]

6. Heard on the radio they expected a 50 foot surge...

and that's damn big!

It'll cover a five-story building.

God help the Filipinos.

[starroute]

10. I think it's 50 foot waves on top of a 12 foot storm surge

Not quite as bad -- but quite bad enough when you're only 10 feet above sea level to begin with.

Jeff Masters' own post at Weather Underground has the details:
http://www.wunderground.com/blog/JeffMasters/comment.html?entrynum=2573

[muriel_volestrangler]

12. Unofficial reports of over 30 dead so far

According to a report by GMA reporter Jiggy Manicad aired on Friday evening's episode of "State of the Nation with Jessica Soho", at least 30 people were dead in Tacloban City and Palo town in Leyte. The provinces was one of the worst hit by the typhoon.
...
Añover had taken shelter in a church in Palo town earlier in the day, but strong winds blew off the roof of the church.

That church now housed at least 20 fatalities who were washed up on shore or were found dead by the road, Manicad said.
...

"Power is off all across the island and the streets are deserted," said Lionel Dosdosa, an International Organization for Migration coordinator on Bohol island, the epicenter of an October 15 earthquake that killed 222 people and displaced hundreds of thousands.

http://www.gmanetwork.com/news/story/334590/news/nation/at-least-33-dead-as-super-typhoon-yolanda-pounds-central-philippines

[truthisfreedom]

14. Crushing.