WPAC: HAIYAN - Post-Tropical

[Iune]

This will definitely make history. Please note that it is the strongest landfall anywhere on Earth ever recorded. I think it's also the first sub-900 mbar landfall.

Megi in 2010 made landfall at peak intensity ~885 mbar. Also, the Labor Day Hurricane of 1935 made landfall in Florida w/ a pressure of 892 mbar.

[Macrocane]

That's the first thing I thought when I saw that camera, looks like tsunami damage
History has been written today both Philippines' history and Meteorology's history.

[CrazyC83]

This will definitely make history. Please note that it is the strongest landfall anywhere on Earth ever recorded. I think it's also the first sub-900 mbar landfall.

Megi in 2010 made landfall at peak intensity ~885 mbar. Also, the Labor Day Hurricane of 1935 made landfall in Florida w/ a pressure of 892 mbar.

The big difference is Megi hit a very sparsely populated coastline then crossed a huge mountain range, weakening to a Cat 2 before hitting anything populated (still very severe, but nothing like what it was). Not so with Haiyan which is even stronger.

When was the last time - ANYWHERE in the world - a Category 5 storm's eyewall hit more heavily populated areas? I know both Dean and Felix had their eyewalls hit in the wilderness at landfall.

[cycloneye]

2:30 minute video from Tacloban

[Fyzn94]

Video analyses suggested that (at least the time they were taken) the winds weren't nearly that strong, perhaps gusts to 110 mph or so. That looks to be tsunami-like storm surge damage.

Well I guess that's true, but I was going by the max winds at landfall.

[Iune]

This will definitely make history. Please note that it is the strongest landfall anywhere on Earth ever recorded. I think it's also the first sub-900 mbar landfall.

Megi in 2010 made landfall at peak intensity ~885 mbar. Also, the Labor Day Hurricane of 1935 made landfall in Florida w/ a pressure of 892 mbar.

The big difference is Megi hit a very sparsely populated coastline then crossed a huge mountain range, weakening to a Cat 2 before hitting anything populated (still very severe, but nothing like what it was). Not so with Haiyan which is even stronger.

When was the last time - ANYWHERE in the world - a Category 5 storm's eyewall hit more heavily populated areas? I know both Dean and Felix had their eyewalls hit in the wilderness at landfall.

Hurricane David in 1979 made landfall near Santo Domingo, Dominican Republic as a Category 5. According to Wikipedia, the eyewall passed over the city.

[brunota2003]

The station that recorded the 96 mph 10-minute winds before failing, that would come out to approximately 110 mph 1-minute winds...or right below the threshold of Category 3.

[stormkite]

THE images coming out of the devastation are gut retching

[RL3AO]

I just feel we should compare storms with something less derived like pressure and winds, and more "measured" like Dvorak or Advanced Dvorak. This hit an 8.1 on at least one version of ADT. That makes it one of the strongest storms ever. Trying to apply a pressure or wind speed to a storm this strong is unrealistic. There are just too many variables.

[thoughtsinchaos]

The eye seems to have disintegrated completely, but now the it is crossing back over open water. Speaking at this moment on local media (ABS-CBN), director of Philippine's weather bureau (PAGASA) is reporting 125kph wind gusts in northern Cebu, which is still a few hours from landfall. He also states that live radar is showing signs of re-organization of the inner core and eyewall. He estimates maximum winds of at least 200kph upon making landfall on Cebu island.

[brunota2003]

For Category 5, probably Andrew in 1992...Homestead, FL area. There they had block after block of just flatten areas.

[hurricanes1234]

Yes, so I still think it's made history. T8.1, as RL3AO rightfully stated, is off the Dvorak charts, which I think end at 8.0.

[CrazyC83]

Starting to see pictures of severe damage from Ormoc City as well.

[xtyphooncyclonex]

Starting to see pictures of severe damage from Ormoc City as well.

I am feeling the inner bands, so strong here!

[thoughtsinchaos]

Ormoc City bus terminal under the eye of Haiyan/Yolanda.

[xtyphooncyclonex]

Video in Cebu: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=m4F09maA4xY

[CrazyC83]

Starting to see pictures of severe damage from Ormoc City as well.

I am feeling the inner bands, so strong here!

I am praying for you!!!

[ManilaTC]

Starting to see pictures of severe damage from Ormoc City as well.

Any Images man?

[PaulR]

For Category 5, probably Andrew in 1992...Homestead, FL area. There they had block after block of just flatten areas.

Per wikipedia: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hurricane_Andrew

I was looking at pics of Andrew's destruction, when people here were discussing, several pages back, what kind of damage tornadic vs. hurricane force winds of ~ 200 mph might do...

It's true that many of the Andrew pics are of mobile home parks, but then again, having been there multiple times, not to mention seeing aftermath pictures such as following Bopha, I know much of the construction in the Philippines isn't much better in a storm than a reasonably well made, reasonably well anchored mobile home.

[vbhoutex]

Not that it matters compared to other things, but, I believe he was in Tacloban, looking east out toward the water, as the city's eastern boundary IS the water. As posted by Edds:

First iPad image looking east over the water Tacloban

Yeah, looks like he is in the eastern part of the city, almost right on the beach in a hotel. Not sure how tall the hotel is, a couple stories at least.

They were in a 4 story hotel about 2 blocks from the water last information I got.