Super Typhoon Haiyan Closes in on the Philippines With 190 mph Sustained Winds

[kpete]

Super Typhoon Haiyan Closes in on the Philippines With 190 mph Sustained Winds
By: Dr. Jeff Masters, 4:41 PM GMT on November 07, 2013



Super Typhoon Haiyan is one of the most intense tropical cyclones in world history, with sustained winds an incredible 190 mph, gusting to 230 mph, said the Joint Typhoon Warning Center in their 15 UTC (10 am EST) November 7, 2013 advisory. Officially, the strongest tropical cyclone in world history was Super Typhoon Nancy of 1961, with sustained winds of 215 mph. However, it is now recognized (Black 1992) that the maximum sustained winds estimated for typhoons during the 1940s to 1960s were too strong. Since 1969, only three tropical cyclones have equaled Haiyan's 190 mph sustained winds--the Western Pacific's Super Typhoon Tip of 1979, the Atlantic's Hurricane Camille of 1969, and the Atlantic's Hurricane Allen of 1980. All three of these storms had a hurricane hunter aircraft inside of them to measure their top winds, but Haiyan's winds were estimated using only satellite images, making its intensity estimate of lower confidence. Some interpretations of satellite intensity estimates suggest that there may have been two super typhoons stronger than Tip--Super Typhoon Gay of 1992, and Super Typhoon Angela of 1995. We don't have any measurements of Haiyan's central pressure, but it may be close to the all-time record of 870 mb set by Super Typhoon Tip. The Japan Meteorological Agency estimated Haiyan's central pressure at 895 mb at 12 UTC (7 am EST) November 7, 2013. Haiyan has the most spectacular appearance I've ever seen on satellite loops, with a prominent eye surrounded by a huge, impenetrable-looking mass of intense eyewall thunderstorms with tops that reach into the lower stratosphere. With landfall expected to occur by 21 UTC (4 pm EST) on Thursday, Haiyan doesn't have time to weaken much before landfall, and will likely hit the Philippines at Category 5 strength.

http://www.wunderground.com/blog/JeffMasters/comment.html?entrynum=2572

[ChisolmTrailDem]

1. That's going to leave a mark. ... Good luck to all in the path of that monster. n/t

[HereSince1628]

2. I'll bet those congress critters who voted against Sandy relief are damned glad

that the US granted independence to the Phillipines at the close of WWII.

[greytdemocrat]

3. Incredible...

It's just 5 mph short of 200 sustained.

[hunter]

4. No. This has nothing to do with fossil fuels...

.

.

.


Prayers for everyone in the path of this monster.