Tropical Cyclone-Related Anniversaries [Five-year Intervals Only]

[SconnieCane]

This thread could use a revival...

On this day five years ago, a tropical wave emerged into the Bay of Campeche and quickly organized into a tropical cyclone. Even before it attained maximum sustained winds of 35kts, the system already had a name: Harvey. This was because it had previously been a tropical storm over the Caribbean, but had opened up into a trough in the face of hostile shear. However, the NHC had continued to monitor the remnant mid-level circulation for redevelopment, and some model runs were beginning to diverge from the earlier consensus of a landfall in northern Mexico, and showing alarming rainfall totals over parts of Texas...

[MarioProtVI]

Ten years ago tonight or tomorrow (depending on where you live around the world) on November 6-7, 2013, the Philippines experienced the worst storm they’ve encountered since the 1990s: Super Typhoon Haiyan at a peak intensity of ~170 kt - a very high end Category 5. Remarkably this system essentially made up for the abysmal season the Northern Hemisphere was having. That energy had to go somewhere, but at a catastrophic cost, with Haiyan killing at least 6000 people with thousands more missing although at this point they’re basically considered dead as well (the death toll is likely to never be known, but probably is around Mitch-numbers or higher). Tacloban City was essentially wiped off the map as the storm hit there at peak intensity.

[FireRat]

Ten years ago tonight or tomorrow (depending on where you live around the world) on November 6-7, 2013, the Philippines experienced the worst storm they’ve encountered since the 1990s: Super Typhoon Haiyan at a peak intensity of ~170 kt - a very high end Category 5. Remarkably this system essentially made up for the abysmal season the Northern Hemisphere was having. That energy had to go somewhere, but at a catastrophic cost, with Haiyan killing at least 6000 people with thousands more missing although at this point they’re basically considered dead as well (the death toll is likely to never be known, but probably is around Mitch-numbers or higher). Tacloban City was essentially wiped off the map as the storm hit there at peak intensity.

https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/6/69/Typhoon_Haiyan_2013_landfall_loop.gif

This was The Big One. I still remember watching that monster roll towards Tacloban the afternoon of Nov 7 here in the US. The landfall was during the morning of 11/08/2013 in Tacloban local time. Most extreme thing I've ever witnessed tracking the tropics. If there was such a thing as Cat 6, Haiyan would be it.

[CrazyC83]

Ten years ago tonight or tomorrow (depending on where you live around the world) on November 6-7, 2013, the Philippines experienced the worst storm they’ve encountered since the 1990s: Super Typhoon Haiyan at a peak intensity of ~170 kt - a very high end Category 5. Remarkably this system essentially made up for the abysmal season the Northern Hemisphere was having. That energy had to go somewhere, but at a catastrophic cost, with Haiyan killing at least 6000 people with thousands more missing although at this point they’re basically considered dead as well (the death toll is likely to never be known, but probably is around Mitch-numbers or higher). Tacloban City was essentially wiped off the map as the storm hit there at peak intensity.

https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/6/69/Typhoon_Haiyan_2013_landfall_loop.gif

This was The Big One. I still remember watching that monster roll towards Tacloban the afternoon of Nov 7 here in the US. The landfall was during the morning of 11/08/2013 in Tacloban local time. Most extreme thing I've ever witnessed tracking the tropics. If there was such a thing as Cat 6, Haiyan would be it.

I don't think any of the assessed 170-kt storms since then in the WPAC have reached Haiyan levels. If only we had Recon to monitor that storm, since then we would know the true intensity. (My estimate of the peak intensity was 185 kt, at 1800Z November 7)

[ncforecaster89]

Ten years ago tonight or tomorrow (depending on where you live around the world) on November 6-7, 2013, the Philippines experienced the worst storm they’ve encountered since the 1990s: Super Typhoon Haiyan at a peak intensity of ~170 kt - a very high end Category 5. Remarkably this system essentially made up for the abysmal season the Northern Hemisphere was having. That energy had to go somewhere, but at a catastrophic cost, with Haiyan killing at least 6000 people with thousands more missing although at this point they’re basically considered dead as well (the death toll is likely to never be known, but probably is around Mitch-numbers or higher). Tacloban City was essentially wiped off the map as the storm hit there at peak intensity.

https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/6/69/Typhoon_Haiyan_2013_landfall_loop.gif

Tacloban Ciy definitely experienced one of the most devastating storm surge events in recorded history along with extreme winds.

Of minor importance, the city just missed Cat 5 winds due to it being just inside the outermost portion of the N eyewall as Typhoon Haiyan moved through. The Cat 5 MSW’s were located closer to Palo…which encountered the innermost portion of the powerful eyewall. This is an important distinction in so much as helping one to understand that Cat 5 wind speeds aren’t found everywhere within a Cat 5 TC, but only in a very small area within the innermost portion of the eyewall. The gradient is even more pronounced in the most extreme TC’s.

Consequently, the peak winds seen in the videos taken from both Tacloban City and Palo exhibit the aforementioned difference in the wind strength between the two respective locations.

Typhoon Haiyan was actually at its peak intensity when it struck Samar Island near Guiuan, but weakened a little on approach to its landfall near Palo. Not that it mattered much, unfortunately. Hard to imagine it being even more destructive and deadly!

https://youtu.be/4dCt89wuyB8?si=v3vs2BmFKz3T0S6Y

The video linked above may be the most intense winds ever captured on video; possibly 150 kt? One of very few showing genuine Cat 5 wind speeds. The only others I can think of were hurricane Irma on St. Maarten, Michael on Mexico Beacb, and Dorian at Marsh Harbour. In all cases, the MSW caught on video was in the 140-145 kt range. That said, it’s virtually impossible to differentiate small differences at these extreme wind speeds via video documentation.