Category 5 Super Typhoon Bopha bearing down on the Philippines
Extremely dangerous Typhoon Bopha is bearing down on the Philippine island of Mindanao as a Category 5 storm with 160 mph winds. Bopha completed an eyewall replacement cycle on Sunday and has been steadily intensifying today, and will make landfall on Mindanao in the early morning on Tuesday local time. Mindanao rarely gets hit by typhoons, since the island is too close to the Equator, and the infrastructure of Mindanao is not prepared to handle heavy typhoon rains as well as the more typhoon-prone northern islands. Bopha is potentially a catastrophic storm for Mindanao. The typhoon is following a similar track to last year's Tropical Storm Washi, which hit Mindanao on December 16, 2011 with 60 mph winds and torrential rains. Washi triggered devastating flooding that killed 1268 people. Washi was merely a tropical storm, and Bopha is likely to hit at Category 4 or 5 strength, making it the strongest typhoon ever recorded in Mindanao.
Figure 1. Super Typhoon Bopha at 01:45 UTC on December 2, 2012. At the time, Bopha had top sustained winds of 150 mph, as was just below its peak intensity of 155 mph, which it reached from 06 - 12 UTC on December 2. Image credit: NASA.
Bopha: the 2nd most southerly typhoon on record
Bopha became a tropical depression unusually close to the Equator, at 3.6°N latitude. Tropical cyclones rarely form so close to the Equator, because they cannot leverage the Earth's rotation to get themselves spinning. According to hurricane expert Dr. Paul Roundy of SUNY Albany, Bopha got its spin from a large-scale atmospheric wave called a mixed Rossby gravity wave. Because of the lack of atmospheric spin so close to the Equator, it took Bopha over four days to intensify into a typhoon, and it stayed a relatively small storm. Bopha became the 2nd most southerly typhoon ever recorded in the Western Pacific at 06 GMT on November 30, when the storm was at 3.8°N latitude. The Joint Typhoon Warning Center lists Typhoon Vamei of 2001 as the most southerly typhoon on record, at 1.5°N. However, other meteorological agencies do not credit Vamei with reaching typhoon strength, so this record is disputed. The previous most southerly typhoon was Typhoon Kate of 14 - 25 October 1970, which reached typhoon intensity at 4.3°N, 137.4°E. Bopha continued intensifying over the weekend, becoming the second most southerly super typhoon ever recorded (150 mph winds) at 00 GMT on December 1, when it was at 6.1°N latitude. The record most southerly super typhoon was Kate, which reached super typhoon intensity at 6.0°N, 126.3°E. Kate struck the Philippine island of Mindanao as a Category 4 storm, killing 631 people. Bopha further intensified into a Category 5 typhoon on Monday at 7.4°N latitude, becoming the second most southerly Category 5 typhoon on record, next to Typhoon Louise of 1964, which was a Category 5 storm at 7.3°N. According to NOAA's Coastal Services Center, there have been only 4 previous typhoons of at least Category 4 strength to track within 200 nautical miles of Mindanao Island, dating back to 1945: Mike ("Ruping" ) in 1990, Ike ("Nitang") in 1984, Kate ("Titang") in 1970, and Louise ("Ining" ) in 1964.
Figure 2. Tracks of all Category 4 typhoons to affect the southern Philippine Island of Mindanao since 1945. Image credit: NOAA Coastal Services Center.
The closest a tropical cyclone has ever been to the Equator is 0.7°N, by Tropical Cyclone Agni in the North Indian Ocean in November 2004. Agni got counter-clockwise spin from the presence of the summer monsoon circulation in the Indian Ocean. The closest a Western Pacific tropical cyclone has been to the Equator is 1.4°N latitude, by Tropical Storm Vamei on December 27, 2001. Vamei hit Singapore after Christmas in 2001, at a latitude of 1.5°N.
Figure 3. This MET-5 visible satellite image taken at 0400 UTC November 28, 2004, shows Agni as a developing tropical storm just north of the Equator in the Indian Ocean. Image credit: Navy Research Lab, Monterey.
Jeff Masters
Reader Comments
Page: 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6 | 7 | 8 | 9 | 10 | 11 | 12 | 13 — Blog Index
Agreed on most of that list ....especially Sports, Clothes ,men ,beer and seafood but I would replace the other two for shoes....
anyway Bopha about to make landfall
I don't care if this has been posted before, but this is an incredible image here of Bopha/Pablo...
BOOOOOO lets go Penn State!
Oh that was great, different world now that'd lead to arrests.
Ryan Maue@RyanMaue
Digital Typhoon gives me 57 storms since 1950 within 350 km of Bopha. Red is most intense. http://agora.ex.nii.ac.jp/digital-typhoon/search_p lace.html.en … pic.twitter.com/Jy8hzDAm
38 minRyan Maue@RyanMaue
From Digital Typhoon, Bopha appears to be strongest, lowest-latitude Typhoon in records to encounter Philippines at 7.5°N latitude.
40 minRyan Maue@RyanMaue
Tropical Storm Son-Tinh took same track as Bopha during late-October but was less organized. Made landfall in Vietnam as powerful Cat 3.
46 minRyan Maue@RyanMaue
Bopha has peaked at 140-knots, equivalent to Category 5 landfall over Davao Region Philippines. Some higher terrain will disrupt circ.
Although the city’s Public Works Department reported localized street flooding during these rains, there were no documented cases of blockages or pipe collapses being at fault.
LOL
Yeah its ben months here in Austin since any measurable rainfall and this past saturday it got up to 84 with high humidity. Its hovering around 80 here today. I was sweating putting up all the Christmas decorations. Go figure.
Being a loyal resident of Kerrville, TX, I'm pulling for "Johnny Football" to win the Heisman and then lead the Aggies to a butt-whipping of the Sooners in the Cotton Bowl.
Sorry Wisconsin Badgers all the way.. :)
AND SOUTHWEST FLORIDA...
NOVEMBER 2012 WAS RATHER DRY ACROSS WEST CENTRAL AND SOUTHWEST FLORIDA WITH
MOST LOCATIONS RECEIVING LESS THAN ONE HALF OF AN INCH OF RAIN FOR THE MONTH
AS SEEN IN THE IMAGE BELOW. THEREFORE, MANY SPOTS ENDED UP AS ONE OF THE TOP
TEN DRIEST FOR NOVEMBER.
SuperTyphoon Bopha makes landfall. Satellite intensity estimates 135-155 knots; JTWC going with 140-knots. Cat 5 equiv http://twitter.com/RyanMaue/status/275705651181805 568
Very true Largo. I worry about fires.
I've been all the way up the coast where Bopha is going to hit on Wiki map, and all I see are small communities. There's an offshore island right in the path of the eye with lots of shacks and fishing boats. That's gonna be obliterated, but probably only a few hundred people there.
Might not be as bad as you'd think, but it'll carry on past Mindanao, hitting other Philippine islands, before reaching China as a much weaker storm.
Yes he is fun to watch. I was surprised they got Nebraska that bad Saturday night.
Pablo's track similar to Sendong's
Other foreign weather agencies and meteorologists have been tracking Pablo for days.
Dr. Jeff Masters, co-founder of Michigan-based commercial weather forecasting service Weather Underground, said the typhoon is following a similar track to last year's Tropical Storm Washi (Sendong), which hit Mindanao on December 16, 2011 and killed more than 1,200 people
LINK
http://www.abs-cbnnews.com/nation/12/03/12/pablo- category-5-supertyphoon-us-scientists
5:00am local time at the time of this post.
Sorry all I had fallen asleep for awhile.
Well the rain here has slowed to just a trickle.
The wind, however, has picked up considerably.
Were getting big gusts now maybe 40 to 60mph.
Good news for us is that the Typhoon has decided to drift more south, so we are not going to get the direct hit. The bad news is that all the warnings and evacs were issued for more of the northern towns etc of Mindanao. So these southern areas had almost no warning. My heart goes out to them, as this is a surprise attack. The other thing is the area of Davao and North Davao is quite a bit more populated than the path that was expected.
It looks like the Eye is going to Hit Bislig, Mindanao head on, in just under a hour.
Power Grid is now starting to Stress. Our lights are flickering, The UPS's keep clicking in and out.
Will keep you updated. Need some Coffee now :-)
Boro
Sure hope they r ready for this.
Now the real damage begins
Indeed.
Bilsig Bay looks like a horrid place to have a storm tide enter...They'll be getting onshore winds there, too.
This storm is going to cause unimaginable damage to the region where buildings codes are poor. The death toll is going to be higher than any other storm we've seen this year in any basin.
Updated by pagasa
Tropical Cyclone Bulletin #7
TYPHOON PABLO (BOPHA)
5:00 AM PhST December 4 2012
==============================
Typhoon PABLO has made landfall over Baganga, Davao Oriental.
At 4:00 AM PhST, Typhoon Pablo [948 hPa] located at 7.6°N 126.9°E or east of the eastern coast of Davao Oriental has 10 minute sustained winds of 95 knots gusting up to 115 knots. The cyclone is reported as moving west at 13 knots.
State of the sea is rough to phenomenal
Signal Warnings
==============
Signal Warning #3
-----------
Visayas Region
----------------
1. Southern Leyte
2. Bohol
3. Negros Oriental
4. Siquijor
5. Southern Cebu
Mindanao Region
----------------
1. Surigao del Norte including Siargao
2. Surigao del Sur
3. Dinagat Province
4. Agusan del Norte
5. Agusan del Sur
6. Misamis Oriental
7. Camiguin
8. Bukidnon
9. Davao Oriental
10. Compostela Valley
11. North Cotabato
12.Lanao del Sur
13. Lanao del Norte Misamis Occidental
14. Zamboanga del Norte
15. Zamboanga del Sur
16. Davao del Norte including Samal Island
Signal Warning #2
-----------
Visayas Region
-------------
1. Rest of Cebu including Camotes Island
2. Iloilo
3. Guimaras Capiz
4. Leyte including Biliran
5. Negros Occidental
Mindanao Region
----------------
1. Davao del Sur
2. Sultan Kudarat
3. Zamboanga Sibugay
4. Maguindanao
Signal Warning #1
----------
Luzon Region
-------------
1. Palawan
2. Calamian Grp. Of Islands
3. Ticao Island
4. Masbate
Visayas Region
=============
1. Northern Samar
2. Eastern Samar
3. Western Samar,
4. Aklan
5. Antique
Mindanao Region
================
1. Basilan
2. Sarangani
3. South Cotabato
Additional Information
========================
Estimated rainfall amount is from 15-30 mm per hour (heavy to intense) within the 600 km diameter of the typhoon.
Residents living in low lying and mountainous areas under public storm warning signals are alerted against possible flash floods and landslides.
Likewise, residents in coastal areas under public storm warning signal #2 and signal #3 are alerted against storm surges particulary those living in the coastal areas of Surigao del Sur, Surigao del Norte, Dinagat, Bohol and Leyte provinces where 3-6 meters wave height is expected.
Fishing boats and other sea vessels are advised not to venture out into the eastern Seaboards of Visayas and Mindanao.
The public and the disaster coordinating councils concerned are advised to take appropriate actions and watch for the next bulletin to be issued at 11 AM today.
and what is it?
Isn't that the monkey that was jumping out of bushes and biting people ?
Holy moly! That'd be weird as heck!
Viewing: 251 - 301
Page: 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6 | 7 | 8 | 9 | 10 | 11 | 12 | 13 — Blog Index