News 195mph Super Typhoon about to hit the Philippines

[Kyle]

A potentially catastrophic situation is unfolding in the Philippines. The strongest tropical cyclone of the year looks bound to strike the area sometime today. I hope any orbitnauts from the Philippines have bunkered down, because this is insane. 165kt 1-minute sustained winds, 200kt 1-minute sustained gusts. Pressures are around 895mb and continuing to drop. Some of the intensity agencies actually have this as the strongest tropical cyclone on record, with a 862mb pressure, but that's unconfirmed at this time. If that reading is confirmed however, it would shatter the record set by Super Typhoon Tip in 1979 and the unconfirmed record set by Cyclone Monica in 2006 off Australia.

Best guess is that this will be nearing 175kts 1-minute sustained winds at landfall, as the central dense overcast (CDO) continues to become increasingly symmetrical and well organized. No signs of an eyewall replacement cyclone (EWRC) either, as it wrapped up one last night. This will be intensifying straight through landfall.

---------- Post added at 03:08 PM ---------- Previous post was at 02:38 PM ----------

Down to 890mb.

 

[kerlix]

Yeah, that's gonna sting.

 

[MattBaker]

Meanwhile the US is still like "There was a hurricane season? For real? You're kidding, right?".

Well, on the plus side this will reveal how prepared the Philippines are for such a massive natural disaster. If it will be bad they'll improve for the next one (I hope).
But good luck to everyone in the area or to people you might know in that area.

Also it's kinda relevant for spaceflight. China is building a new space centre on Hainan. Which gets its fair share of typhoons, too. Compared to other space centres (I mean what can happen in Jiuquan?) that's a negative feature.

 

[Kyle]

Up to 170kts!!! This thing is going to make a run at 200mph before landfall!

Meanwhile the US is still like "There was a hurricane season? For real? You're kidding, right?".

Well, on the plus side this will reveal how prepared the Philippines are for such a massive natural disaster. If it will be bad they'll improve for the next one (I hope).
But good luck to everyone in the area or to people you might know in that area.

Also it's kinda relevant for spaceflight. China is building a new space centre on Hainan. Which gets its fair share of typhoons, too. Compared to other space centres (I mean what can happen in Jiuquan?) that's a negative feature.

Over 1,000 people were killed in a similar location last year in Super Typhoon Bopha. This storm is even stronger than that. But interestingly enough, while the 2013 Atlantic hurricane season has been relatively inactive, the western Pacific has been the most active since 2004 and it's not an El Nino year.

 

[RisingFury]

The Philippines get hit by strong Typhoons all the time, though this one is quite a lot more powerful. I do know that whatever happens, Filipinos will rebuild...

I wish them good luck and I hope they're as prepared as they can be.

 

[Athena]

Where did you get the unconfirmed info about the 862 mb pressure?

And yeah, this is bad, especially for the people that just got hit by a earthquake a few weeks ago, and now they'll experience category 3 winds...

And this is 25 minutes ago from our national weather agency:

The eye of Typhoon “YOLANDA” was located at 135 km Southeast Guiuan, Eastern Samar (10.6°N, 126.9°E) with maximum sustained winds of 225 kph near the center and gustiness of up to 260 kph

I just hope that the fishermen don't go out at sea during this time because some of them don't like listening to warnings and go out fishing instead of staying in their homes or going into a evacuation center...

 

[Ripley]

...But good luck to everyone in the area or to people you might know in that area...

What he said.
IIRC, our fellow Orbinaut Rodion Herrera lives there too.

 

[Kyle]

Where did you get the unconfirmed info about the 862 mb pressure?

And yeah, this is bad, especially for the people that just got hit by a earthquake a few weeks ago, and now they'll experience category 3 winds...

And this is 25 minutes ago from our national weather agency:



I just hope that the fishermen don't go out at sea during this time because some of them don't like listening to warnings and go out fishing instead of staying in their homes or going into a evacuation center...

ADT numbers, or satellite intensity.
2013NOV07 173000 8.0 862.1 +4.1 170.0 8.0 8.0 8.0 NO LIMIT OFF OFF 20.59 -83.52 EYE 24 IR 103. 10.69 -126.89 COMBO MTSAT1 19.7

 

[astrosammy]

:theysaid:

Scary, you propably could takeoff in heavy widebody planes by just pulling up...

 

[Kyle]

Make that 858mb per SSD.

Note, these are unofficial readings.
http://www.ssd.noaa.gov/PS/TROP/DATA/2013/tdata/wpac/31W.html

 

[MattBaker]

Scary, you propably could takeoff in heavy widebody planes by just pulling up...

Well, storms like that include a lot of debris. I wouldn't recommend that.

 

[Urwumpe]

I think the German THW is already prepared mentally to go to the Philipinnes and assist there, because that one will sure mean that their assistance is requested. Nobody can faster assure fresh water supply in such situations, and that will be the most dire need, should this amount of water in the Hurricane go down as rain.

 

[Kyle]

Sunrise over a 195mph monster, about to make landfall.

 

[N_Molson]

Already devastation scenes on the shores

Manilla International has closed intra-national flights

 

[Quick_Nick]

The surge is like a powerful river.
http://video.suntimes.com/Strongest-Typhoon-Of-The-Year-Slams-Philippines-25336559

 

[Athena]

Debris everywhere, roofs torn off houses and buildings.

Tree got uprooted...

 

[Eccentrus]

I've seen monsoons that uprooted trees before, but never that big! and that monsoon, even though not as catastrophic as this one, still have considerable damages. I pray for the best to the Filipino affected.

 

[Kyle]

Death toll now sadly up to 100, likely to significantly rise.

---------- Post added at 03:10 AM ---------- Previous post was at 02:28 AM ----------

Shot of Haiyan at peak strength.

---------- Post added at 04:45 AM ---------- Previous post was at 03:10 AM ----------

Hearing reports that there's been total widescale tree debarkment where Haiyan hit at peak. That's something I've never heard of happening in a tropical cyclone, and only in recent horrific tornadic events in the US like in the May 2013 Moore EF-5.

 

[Quick_Nick]

Hearing reports that there's been total widescale tree debarkment where Haiyan hit at peak. That's something I've never heard of happening in a tropical cyclone, and only in recent horrific tornadic events in the US like in the May 2013 Moore EF-5.

I guess that happens around 200mph.
[ame="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Great_Hurricane_of_1780"]Great Hurricane of 1780 - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia[/ame]

And I checked/learned that this storm is far above what's necessary to be called a Category 5 hurricane or a Super Typhoon. These are absolutely (extreme) tornado speeds.

 

[garyw]

the view from the space station.