Super Typhoon Haiyan

[Bryan]

Winds sustained at 195mph and gusts to 235mph.  This one will be for the record books.  Getting near to make landfall around Manila, Philippines.

[SamRichardson92]

Oh God....

[WeatherWitness]

Very interesting images I found yesterday and today.  If you all thought Sandy was bad...



And what about Katrina?

[Warren Faidley]

Latest from the BBC:

"Tacloban is totally destroyed. Some people are losing their minds from hunger or from losing their families," high school teacher Andrew Pomeda told AFP news agency.

"People are becoming violent. They are looting business establishments, the malls, just to find food, rice and milk... I am afraid that in one week, people will be killing from hunger."

The BBC's Rupert Wingfield-Hayes reports that the scene in Tacloban is one of utter devastation.

Our correspondent says hundreds of people are at the airport, itself badly damaged, trying to get on a flight out of the city.

Warren

[Lightning]

I am glad we don't have anything like that happening in the United States. Prayers go out to those in the Philippines and southeast Asia.

[Lightning]

Winds sustained at 195mph and gusts to 235mph.

That is the equivalent to a high end EF4, borderline EF5 tornado, like Tuscaloosa, Joplin and Moore of the recent past.

Sorry for the double post.

[phw115wvwx]

That is the equivalent to a high end EF4, borderline EF5 tornado, like Tuscaloosa, Joplin and Moore of the recent past.

While you may be right with the comparison of the wind speeds, you really can't compare a super typhoon to a tornado.  A tornado is usually a mile or less in width and only affects a small area.  Super Typhoon Haiyan, the equivalent of a Category 5 hurricane that was stronger than Camille at landfall but larger in size, has killed over 10,000 people based on media reports (and that number is sadly a very low estimate when the true scale of devastation is realized over the next few days) as those winds and the storm surge wipe out an area that is hundreds of miles wide.  It's a horrible tragedy right now for the people in the Philippines.

[toxictwister00]

I've been listening and looking at the devastation from this Super Typhoon and I honestly don't know what to say about it, it's incredible. The photos in the media and around the internet tell the story all on it's own. It's unfortunate so many lives had to perish and as much as we try to prepare for worst case scenario hurricanes like Haiyan, I don't believe even we as Americans could or would be prepared for a storm of that intensity that would cover a region from Florida to Canada all at once.

All kinds of phenomenal feats with this monster storm. The ACE from this storm alone out surpassed the ACE in the Atlantic Basin this entire season! I also can't get over the size, talk about a freakin' storm on steroids! Hurricane Katrina and Sandy could have been this typhoon's children, that's just how massive this thing was.

EDIT: Another thing that amazed me was that eyewall, it was a BEAST! I don't think I've ever seen such a perfect looking eyewall in my life.
 

[WeatherWitness]

EDIT: Another thing that amazed me was that eyewall, it was a BEAST! I don't think I've ever seen such a perfect looking eyewall in my life.

Yeah.  This high-quality image just makes you go: