BOB : Cyclonic Storm PHAILIN (02B)

[ozonepete]

just the 2nd category 5 this year ...

Super Typhoon Usagi...
Cyclone Phailin...

Do you know what the average number of cat 5's per year is? (just asking; I don't know)

[HURAKAN]

eye starting to become visible on radar

http://andrew.rsmas.miami.edu/bmcnoldy/ ... 13_vsk.gif

http://www.imd.gov.in/section/dwr/dynamic/dwr.htm

[mrbagyo]

will Phailin be just the 2nd or 3rd cat 5 to make landfall over the Indian subcontinent??
Typhoon/Super cyclonic storm Gay(1989) was a cat 5 at landfall... I don't know if the Odisha cyclone(1999) was a cat 5 or a high-end cat 4 at landfall.

[supercane4867]

will Phailin be just the 2nd or 3rd cat 5 to make landfall over the Indian subcontinent??
Typhoon/Super cyclonic storm Gay(1989) was a cat 5 at landfall... I don't know if the Odisha cyclone(1999) was a cat 5 or a high-end cat 4 at landfall.

High-end Cat4 135kt

[ozonepete]

Sun is up over there. Here's one of the first visible and first rgb images. In the RGB image looks like stadium effect in the eye, maybe, Hurakan?

[HURAKAN]

oh yeah, ozonepete !!

[ozonepete]

Oh, yeah, wow! So great to see on satellite what we learned in theory classes: The warm air from the latent heat of condensation in the tremendous thunderstorm updrafts in the eyewall at mid and higher levels rises and expands as it feeds into the eye , thus making the eye larger at higher altitudes. Edited this to be more clear.

[HURAKAN]

beautiful EWRC .. the inner core still looks quite potent

[ozonepete]

Yup. The EWRC will never get much further than it is now - the outer ring outside the current eyewall is too far away and will never have time to constrict inward before this hits land. Unfortunately that means this should not weaken before landfall. Surely going to be devastating at the coast and quite a ways inland.

[Zanthe]

@Hal_Needham: Cyclone #Phailin air pressure down to 883mb. Lowest landfall air pressure in U.S. was 892 in 1935 Labor Day Hurricane

No link for where he got this, but totally believable.

[stormkite]

Nature

[supercane4867]

@Hal_Needham: Cyclone #Phailin air pressure down to 883mb. Lowest landfall air pressure in U.S. was 892 in 1935 Labor Day Hurricane

No link for where he got this, but totally believable.

If you go by unoffical estimate, Typhoon Zeb had the lowest landfall pressure of 872mb per JTWC best track

That tweet is certainly unreliable anyway

[summersquall]

Wow.

[Sanibel]

Intensification wobbles apparent on that loop.

[HURAKAN]

masterful

[supercane4867]

Ok you've beat me

Here is another view

[FireRat]

What a beast! This seems like India's perfect storm. I shudder to think about the monstrous surge this cyclone will produce along the coast of landfall.

[HurricaneBill]

Prior to Phailin, only four Category 5 cyclones have been observed in the Bay of Bengal.

1989 Cyclone Gay 140KT (landfall 140KT)


1991 Cyclone 2B 140KT (landfall 135KT)


1999 Cyclone 5B (Orissa Cyclone) 140KT (landfall 135KT)


2007 Cyclone Sidr 140KT (landfall 130KT)

[summersquall]

"Phailin, described in Met department bulletins as a "very severe cylonic storm" approaching with wind speed of 210-220 km per hour, is likely to make landfall around 5.00-5.30 pm on Saturday, with the region up to 5-10 km from the coast between Kalingapatnam and Paradip, bearing the brunt."... but

Foreign agencies claimed Indian authorities are underestimating Phailin, quoting London-based Tropical Storm and US Navy's joint typhoon warning centre as forecasting winds up to 315 kmph.

http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/indi ... 993334.cms

[CrazyC83]

The time for evacuation is over. It is likely tropical storm force winds are onshore now...