Typhoon Bopha hits the Philippines at Cat 5 strength; at least 40 killed
Typhoon Bopha slammed ashore on the Philippine island of Mindanao at 4:45 am local time on Tuesday morning as a Category 5 storm with 160 mph winds. Bopha is the third Category 5 typhoon to affect the Western Pacific this year, and the strongest typhoon ever recorded to hit Mindanao, which rarely sees strong typhoons due to its position close to the Equator. The death toll from the powerful storm already stands at 40, and is expected to rise. While passage over land has weakened Bopha to a Category 2 storm, the tropical cyclone is spreading torrential rains over a large portion of the southern Philippine Islands, and this will cause serious flooding problems today. The island of Mindanao is highly vulnerable to flood disasters from tropical cyclones; last year's Tropical Storm Washi, which hit Mindanao on December 16, 2011 with 60 mph winds and torrential rains, killed over 1500 people. Before hitting the Philippines, Typhoon Bopha brought a storm surge estimated at ten feet to the island nation of Palau, where near-total destruction is being reported in some coastal areas.
Figure 1. Super Typhoon Bopha as seen from the International Space Station on December 2, 2012. At the time, Bopha had top sustained winds of 150 - 155 mph. Image credit: NASA.
Bopha: the 2nd most southerly Category 5 typhoon on record
Bopha, a Cambodian word for flower or a girl, 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. Bopha became the second most southerly Category 5 typhoon on Monday at 7.4°N latitude. The record is held by Typhoon Louise of 1964, which was a Category 5 storm at 7.3°N.
Video 1. Scenes of wind damage and flooding from Typhoon Bopha's landfall in the Philippines yesterday.
Jeff Masters
Reader Comments
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Wausau.
Thank you FV. I lived in Oak Creek. Moved to Ft Myers in 1982 and can honestly say I don't miss the snow. I hope you get the snow you are wishing for :)
Can someone tell TxTombell that I have them on ignore?.Thanks.
HAZARDOUS TRAVEL IS POSSIBLE SUNDAY INTO MONDAY AS LOW PRESSURE
MOVES THROUGH THE WESTERN GREAT LAKES REGION. THIS SYSTEM COULD
BRING AN ACCUMULATING SNOWFALL TO THE AREA. THERE IS MUCH
UNCERTAINTY IN THE STRENGTH OF THE STORM AND HOW MUCH
PRECIPITATION IT WOULD BRING TO THE AREA. LATER FORECASTS WILL BE
ABLE TO GET A BETTER HANDLE ON THE EVOLUTION OF THIS STORM AND
PRECIPITATION/SNOWFALL AMOUNTS
Please be right.
Can't catch the solar wind at 100% efficiency.
ESA had a design for an electric solar sail, and based on their numbers that had posted, It still takes a few years to get beyond Neptune, but you will be moving so fast by then that it would quickly over-take Voyager.
Still, if it was actually built and worked the way it's supposed to, it would be the fastest man-made craft ever, and would be far faster than Voyager or New Horizons.
I'd suggest using a solar sail as an extra stage to push a NERVA rocket or an ion engine up to large velocities before the engine was ever engaged. This way you can probably double maximum velocity for the same "fuel" costs.
Seeing this destruction really shows how bad Pablo/Bopha was. I am fairly sure PAGASA severely under forecast Pablo/Bopha. They need a big kick up the butt. We here all knew Bopha was a Cat 5 typhoon at landfall, yet PAGASA only had signal 3 up and not signal 4 which means forced evacuations of everyone and if they don't evacuate they will be arrested for there own good. Signal 3 means mandatory but forced evacuations is not enforced.
You can always edit your ignore list. Just click ignore user on any handle, bottom of the list remove that handle and any other handle you wish to un-ignore.
I am sure Ainslie already knows Wash.
Morning Folks.
Anyways its just truely heartbreaking what has happened in the Philipines.
Ok then, well since I am replying to you, I'm sure tombelltx will see you have them on ignore.
There's much about the RP to understand. Bottom line though, they are economic pawns of multinational interests and their church's dogma on birth control.
There is no way quick way out for this very young country (really 1946). Add to that the fact they really are about 7 or 8 nations rolled into one set of borders, and it's one of the most complicated geopolicital/economic tragedies in a region of many.
Goodnight all. I will be back in the morning and I'm sure the death toll which is not 274 will only increase.
Goodnight all.
(Good night Aussie)
Webcam from my area
My WU weather
Rain's coming..not far away now.. :)
Good morning. What's up? :)
Some slow moving benefitial re-supply of needed rain headed my way..
And of course whats left of Bopha
A storm of death and destruction.. :(
Very sad indeed...
I realize that washi..
Nature at the helm..
Just hoping it was less of a killing storm..
Can't hold that against me dear..
I don't mean to be rude wash but.. who you have on ignore is your business not mine and you should keep it to yourself. That's TMI that doesn't need to be shared IMO
FtMyersgirl:Tombelltx didn't know so I was just warning them If they wanted to reply to my post from now on.Peaople always say who they have on ignore all the time..
Makes me feel like going X-mas shopping..
Would rather it would snow but thats out of the question.. :)
Thank you for all the posts Aussie. Such a tragic situation in the Ph indeed. You are absolutely right. We may all speak a different language and live in a different place on this rock but one thing is true: Pain, loss and compassion are part of a language that is universal. Thoughts and prayers to the people out there.
I'm pulling for you Washi..
Did you make your list for Santa yet??
I did but I may be on the naughty list.. :)
I posted a comment a couple of weeks ago about how dry November has been. Well, the numbers are in.
November 2012 recorded 13.8mm(0.52in) of precipitation, which is remarkable considering the next four driest Novembers since 1942 are well above this amount.
1. 2012, 13.8mm(0.52in)
2. 1991, 31.5mm(1.24in)
3. 1998, 35.7mm(1.41in)
4. 1994, 40.2mm(1.58in)
5. 1962, 41.1mm(1.62in)
Ironically, 4 days into December, and we're already at 16.0mm(0.61in) for the month!
Posted today at 14:02 The number of deaths caused by the passage of Typhoon Bopha the Philippines rose to 274 and hundreds of people still missing, reported the civil protection services.
The typhoon hit the island of Mindanao (south) on Tuesday with gusts of 210 kilometers / hour uprooted trees and destroyed hundreds of thousands of homes.
The storm caused flooding and landslides, especially near the towns of New Bataan and Monkayo, killing at least 253 people, according to the head of the civil protection Benito Ramos.
21 others died in other parts of Mindanao and other islands, according to the same charge.
The interior ministers, Mar Roxas, and Social Affairs, Corazon Soliman, traveled to Mindanao to monitor the relief operations and described a scene of devastation.
"They are whole families, six or seven names with the same surname. It is sad to think that entire families were washed away, "Roxas said in an interview with ABS-CBN television.
http://www.tsf.pt/PaginaInicial/Vida/Interior.asp x?content_id=2928455
It deepens to 960mb on its way north!
A tree fell onto a house on the 40 block of Lurmont Street in San Francisco. @EricThomasKGO is headed to the scene.
Chicken Ak got to -50 six days in a row and Tok Ak made it to -58F
Fairbanks yesterday
however, it is important for us far removed to understand what is going on, so i do thank you.
4 /SAT. 12-8/...AND THEN EXPANDING INTO THE OH/TN/MID AND LOWER MS
VALLEYS AND WRN GULF COAST REGION DAY 5...AS FRONTAL CYCLOGENESIS
OVER THE SRN PLAINS DAY 4 SHIFTS NEWD DAY 5 ALONG THE BAROCLINIC
ZONE -- ALLOWING A TRAILING COLD FRONTAL SURGE TO OCCUR. WITH A
SEASONABLY MOIST BOUNDARY LAYER IN PLACE IN THE WARM SECTOR IN
CONJUNCTION WITH MODERATELY STRONG FLOW ALOFT...GENERAL SEVERE
POTENTIAL APPEARS POSSIBLE. ATTM HOWEVER...WILL OPT NOT TO
INTRODUCE ANY THREAT AREAS SUGGESTING A MORE SUBSTANTIAL SEVERE
EVENT...AS SUCH A SCENARIO CURRENTLY APPEARS UNLIKELY.
_________________________________________________ _____
Im getting my hopes up, it wont be as warm or humid as this week but still....
The models may be transitioning to a flatter sort of trough, this wasnt even on the run consistently in this time fram till yesterday but it has consistency now:
NOW:
12 hour ago run:
24hr ago run when it first started to show up:
It tends to go negative in the mid atlantic
Almost NO CAPE forecast at this time...but we'll have to see if any can develop.
sorry doc, hope i haven't broken the rule of the road too badly ;)
PROGRESSION WITH THE TROUGH...SHOWING LESS OF A TENDENCY TO DIG IN
ACROSS THE SOUTHWESTERN STATES. RUN TO RUN CONSISTENCY HAS BEEN
RATHER POOR WITH RESPECT TO TIMING...STRENGTH...AND POSITION OF
THIS SYSTEM. A MORE PROGRESSIVE NATURE AND POSITIVE TILT OF THE
TROUGH AS SHOWN BY THE CURRENT MODEL FORECASTS WOULD LIMIT ANY
SEVERE WEATHER POTENTIAL TO A NARROW AXIS IMMEDIATELY ALONG AND
AHEAD OF THE FRONT. LOW CONFIDENCE IN THE TIMING AND STRENGTH OF
THIS SYSTEM PRECLUDES THE INTRODUCTION OF ANY HAZARDOUS WEATHER
INTO THE FORECAST AT THIS TIME.
_________________________________________________ ___
bummer.... -__-
Maybe just one of those really long squall lines that pass by in 20 minutes. If that much.
STRONG +100KT UPPER JET AND FORECAST MUCAPE OF LESS THAN 500
J/KG...THIS IS LOOKING TO BE A HIGH SHEAR LOW CAPE SYSTEM....
Viewing: 451 - 501
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