Typhoons, hurricanes, cyclones, oh my!
There are quite a few notable low pressure systems or "cyclones" worldwide today.
Here's a map showing winds from Earth.Nullschool.Net:
Arguably the most important storm on the map is Super Typhoon Meranti (#2 on the map). Yesterday this Category 5 storm had 1 minute sustained winds of 185 mph (Unisys) and 10 minute sustained winds of 140 mph (WikiPedia), potentially ranking it as the fourth strongest tropical storm of all-time, certainly the worst since 2010*.
Here's a close-up:
The storm passed over Itbayat Island, part of the Philippines Batanes province last night and was briefly centered in the eye. At 1 a.m. local time, it reported pressure at a staggering 27.57 inches (933 mb) and winds of 112 mph before it stopped reporting. On either side, surely the eyewall's extreme winds would have caused major damage on the island and it's hard to believe that there weren't casualties. The neighbor islands, even smaller (Mavudis, Mabudis, Siayan and Diago) may have been literally wiped off the map.
Tainan, Taiwan gusted to 72 knots (mph). Kaohsiung, Taiwan's wind speeds wouldn't fit into the international METAR format and were simply reported as "winds over 99 knots."
Right behind Meranti is Typhoon Malakas (#3 on the map). While Meranti has delivered high winds and over 800 mm (31 inches) of rain in southern Taiwan, Malakas may threaten the northern part of the island.
Next up, a strong low pressure system off the coast of South America is the next item of interest (#4). MetSul reports that the strong storm has already killed two people and caused extensive damage on the coast of Uruguay. Winds have been clocked to above hurricane strength. This storm's high winds comprise the "largest" storm on the map. A close-up:
Hurricane Orlean, in the East Pacific basin, technically the only "hurricane" today, is #5 on our map. Number six is Tropical Storm Julie on the Southeast U.S. coast, which has been close to a Tropical Storm since at least Monday night, but was just officially named Tuesday night. Julia is going nowhere fast, according to the models (NHC's 5-day forecast "cone" is literally a circle). Out in the Atlantic, #7 on our map, is Former-Hurricane Ian, which is a "fish storm" that won't affect land.
And the other two, #1 and #8? Just a couple of big fish storms, generating waves up to 20 feet.
Below is the pressure version of the wind map shown at the top.
*10-minute sustained winds of 140 mph of ranks Meranti as the #4 highest Typhoon wind speeds (counting ties as one) on record (though many of the most intense storms don't have wind records). At 890mb pressure, it ties for #8. In any case, it's the strongest Typhoon (and hence tropical storm) worldwide since at least Haiyan (145 mph but 892 mb) in 2013, if not Megi (145 mph and 8 in 2010).
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