Tag: Typhoon

Elsewhere in Weather News: August 2nd, 2014

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Weak Storm Forms in the Atlantic; Typhoon in Pacific

The second named storm of the Atlantic hurricane season spun up this past week and is still churning in the Caribbean. Tropical storm Bertha had sustained winds of around 80km/h as of Friday evening but had lots of dry air to its south and was not very well organized. By this evening it is expected continue its northwest track and pass between Puerto Rico and the Dominican Republic, bringing with it heavy rains as its primary threat. As much as 250mm of rain can be expected in the area which is a cause for concern in the mountainous regions. However, Puerto Rico has been experiencing drought for the past few months; the rain in the forecast is actually a welcome sight. On Sunday Bertha will have more of a northward track, curving up the Gulf Coast and likely dying off to the west of Bermuda due to cooler sea surface temperatures. None of the weather models show Bertha strengthening into a major hurricane and the US mainland is not expected to be impacted by this storm.

A large, more dangerous tropical disturbance has formed in the western Pacific this week and is already of category three status with sustained winds of 185km/h. Halong has a well-defined eye and eyewall in place, the only thing currently interfering with its development is some dry air to its north. The typhoon is currently located well east of the Philippines and is expected to be of no threat to the country as it will quickly curve Poleward this weekend. It, however, could pose a significant threat to Japan and China next week as it moves into the East China Sea as a strong typhoon. The islands of Okinawa could be in for a strong storm, as depicted by some models, but it is really too early to say for sure.

Typhoon Halong could become a super typhoon if it continues to strengthen at the rate it has been going. IR image taken Friday night.(Source: CIMSS)
Typhoon Halong could become a super typhoon if it continues to strengthen at the rate it has been going. IR image taken Friday night.(Source: CIMSS)

Elsewhere in Weather News: July 12th, 2014

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Atlantic and West Pacific Oceans See Storms

Hurricane Arthur
The beginning of July started off on an active note as hurricane Arthur spun up just off the coast of Florida. Arthur quickly organized, pushing out the dry air that was initially a problem on the northwest side of the storm. Following the short bout with the dry air, Arthur formed a well-defined eye. The storm “only” reached category two as it made landfall on the Carolina coast near Cape Lookout, shortly after forming the well-defined eye. It brought with it sustained winds of 160km/h, whipping up a significant storm surge as high as 1.4m on the outer banks.

Base reflectivity radar image of Arthur shortly after it made landfall on the outer banks of North Carolina very early on July 4th. (Source: GRlevel3)
Base reflectivity radar image of Arthur shortly after it made landfall on the outer banks of North Carolina very early on July 4th. (Source: GRlevel3)

In the aftermath of the storm 41,000 residents from North Carolina had lost power, in addition to some minor damage to houses. Flooding was also a concern where a few areas received over 100mm of rain from the storm. Thanks to much warning in advance, no residents were injured or killed with this storm. Arthur brings an end to the lull in hurricane activity the United States has seen in the past couple years. The last hurricane to have made landfall in the United States prior to Arthur was in August, 2012.

Arthur further continued its trek up the East Coast bringing miserable weather to the US Northeast as well as Atlantic Canada, but was less of a threat (still significant) as a post-tropical storm.

Super Typhoon Neoguri
Super typhoon Neoguri was another significant storm that spun up to start off the month of July, this time in the western Pacific Ocean. With the help of very warm sea surface temperatures as well as little shear to tear it apart, Neoguri strengthened to a super typhoon producing sustained winds of 250km/h and bottoming out at a pressure of 930mb. Six deaths have been attributed to Neoguri as well as over 100 injuries. After passing through the Ryuku Islands, Neoguri got caught up in the polar jet stream and curved back east towards Japan as it started its transition to an extratropical storm over Japan. Satellite observations indicated rainfall totals of over 500mm in a few mountainous regions of Japan. Neoguri was officially declared an extratropical storm yesterday.

Another disturbed area is currently over the Pacific and is expected to become of tropical storm strength this weekend, however, is not expected to impact any landmasses in the near future.

Elsewhere in Weather News: November 9th, 2013

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Super Typhoon Haiyan Plows into Philippines

One of the strongest storms ever recorded on the planet formed this week in the Western Pacific and eventually made landfall over the Philippines on Thursday. Early estimates from satellite data suggest that this super typhoon was the fourth strongest ever recorded and strongest to make landfall, since record keeping began.


Impressive image of Haiyan Thursday afternoon as it neared peak intensity, about 5 hours before making landfall. Extremely cold cloud tops can be seen around the eye. (Source: Co. State University)
Impressive image of Haiyan Thursday afternoon as it neared peak intensity, about 5 hours before making landfall. Extremely cold cloud tops can be seen around the eye. (Source: Co. State University)

Haiyan brought just about every type of severe weather you could experience with a typhoon; extremely strong winds with central pressure below 900mb, very heavy rains causing flooding and a powerful storm surge. The category five typhoon brought intense sustained winds in the order of 300km/h, gusting to over 350km/h and a storm surge of over 15 feet. Reports of damage are still coming in as of Friday night as communication to the islands hardest hit has been knocked out. Tacloban, a city of about 215,000 residents looks to be the hardest hit where damage is significant, storm surge swamped first and second floors of buildings and high winds tore apart buildings. It’s difficult to put an estimate on damage and death toll at this point.


Picture of some of the damage to a bus terminal in Ormoc City (located south-west of Tacloban). (Source: R. Deleon)
Picture of some of the damage to a bus terminal in Ormoc City (located south-west of Tacloban). (Source: R. Deleon)

Haiyan continues its trek this weekend as it moves over the South China Sea towards Vietnam. It is expected to make landfall on Saturday overnight as a category two typhoon. Haiyan’s passage over the Philippines weakened its inner core as well as slightly cooler sea surface temperatures and higher shear values have all contributed to Haiyan’s slow weakening. Regardless, the typhoon still needs to be watched closely as it approaches Vietnam as flooding and landslides are expected to be a big problem.

Footage of super typhoon Haiyan making landfall in the Phillipines
An update on Haiyan as well as an update on the cleanup in the Philippines will be posted later this weekend.

Elsewhere in Weather News: October 19th, 2013

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Australia Torched by Wildfires

This past week wildfires have been sweeping across New South Wales (NSW), a state located in the south-eastern part of Australia. A few thousand residents have been evacuated due to the fires, about 200 properties have been destroyed and one resident has died from the fires. West/northwest winds have been pushing plumes of smoke towards Sydney and dropping ash at the same time causing low visibilities at times and trouble for asthmatics. Currently, it’s not clear what started the fires. Some 60 fires were burning as of Thursday and about a third of them were not contained.

NSW fires

A few of the larger fires burning in NSW. Satellite image shows the plume of smoke over Sydney. (Source: NASA)

Unseasonably warm and dry weather is a factor as firefighters continue to battle the blaze in addition to dealing with gusty winds. A large high pressure sitting just off Australia’s east coast is to be blamed for bringing in the gusty northwest winds fuelling the fires. The next shot NSW will have at rain looks to be Tuesday as an area of low pressure passes to the south; the bulk of the rain will stay south but showers are still possible.

Yet Another Super Typhoon Forms

Francisco

Super typhoon Francisco on Saturday morning. Note the well defined eye. (Source:CIMSS)

Super typhoon Francisco formed earlier this week and has already reached category five status as it churned over the very warm waters of the Northwest Pacific. This morning, a very well defined eye could be seen as Francisco started to move northwest, taking aim at Japan. It is expected to make landfall somewhere on the south-eastern coast of Japan, though there is some uncertainty as to where exactly since it still has four to five days to travel over ocean waters. Regardless of where it makes landfall it will pose a flooding threat to all of Japan’s four main islands. Thankfully, by the time Francisco reaches Japan it will have weakened as lower sea surface temperatures will make it tough for Francisco to sustain itself. The typhoon will likely be of category one or two as it makes landfall next week.