Super typhoon Haiyan goes off the scale on approach to the Philippines

[SLM]

Super typhoon Haiyan goes off the scale on approach to the Philippines

Raging super typhoon Haiyan has become so powerful as it approaches the Philippines that it has actually gone off the scale, surpassing the maximum level of 8.0 to become a magnitude 8.1 storm.
Wind speeds in this incredible storm — which is known as Yolanda in the Philippines — have been measured at 305 km/h, and wind gusts have reached up to 370 km/h. By comparison, Hurricane Wilma in 2005, currently ranked as the most powerful tropical cyclone ever recorded, had wind speeds maxing out at 295 km/h, and an Atlantic storm only needs to reach wind speeds higher than 252 km/h to become a category 5 hurricane. Different storm scales are used for different parts of the world, but one that sees more universal use is the Dvorak scale, which ranks from 1.0 to 8.0.

According to what meteorologist Eric Holthaus wrote on Quartz:

Within the last hour, one real-time estimate of the storm’s intensity has actually ticked slightly above the maximum to 8.1 on an 8.0 scale. This meteorologist, for one, has never seen that before.

Thousands are being evacuated in the Philippines ahead of the storm, and several regions of the Visayas Islands are now under the strongest storm alerts used by the nation's weather service. The intense rainfall from the storm is expected to trigger landslides and a storm surge over 5 metres high is likely to push onshore ahead of the storm.

The storm is expected to make landfall sometime within the next 12 hours, and is expected to be at least the most powerful storm to have ever struck the Philippines. It may even be ranked as the most powerful storm ever seen on Earth.


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This could be really, really ugly! 8O

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[Mowich]

And those poor poor people are still trying to recover from the earthquake last month. The weather channel is covering this and also reporting that huge storms are hitting areas of S. America with heavy rainfall that is expected to cause severe flooding across a wide area.

 

[SLM]

And those poor poor people are still trying to recover from the earthquake last month. The weather channel is covering this and also reporting that huge storms are hitting areas of S. America with heavy rainfall that is expected to cause severe flooding across a wide area.

Yes, when I saw that headline my jawed dropped. I guess the only good thing (and remember good thing being in context here, lol) is that they are experienced at handling these storms.

 

[Mowich]

Yes, when I saw that headline my jawed dropped. I guess the only good thing (and remember good thing being in context here, lol) is that they are experienced at handling these storms.

Still, they are trying to move thousands of people out of the most dangerous areas with very little time to do so and not all the necessary means with which to do it................as you mentioned earlier.......it is going to get very ugly over there.

 

[mentalfloss]

Super Haiyan?

 

[SLM]

Super Haiyan?

Super Typhoon Haiyan. That's its name, don't wear it out.