Typhoon Hagibis

typhoon category 5

We know that tropical cyclones can intensify quickly. Many of them have categories of 5 or similar. When the tropical cyclone reaches these categories it is known by the name of hurricanes or typhoons. Many of them show a small, well-defined compact eye that is most evident, especially in satellite and radar images. They are usually the characteristics that mark the power of a tropical cyclone. Today we are going to talk about Typhoon Hagibis, since he was quite special in terms of his eye and training.

In this article we are going to tell you everything you need to know about Typhoon Hagibis, its characteristics and its formation.

Key features

typhoon hagibis

If we do not refer to hurricanes and typhoons, these are essentially composed of 3 parts: the eye, the eye wall and the bands of rain. When we talk about the eye of the hurricane, we are talking about the center of the tropical cyclone in which the entire system is rotating. On average, the eye of the hurricane is usually approximately 30-70 kilometers in diameter. In some cases it can reach a larger diameter, although it is not the most common. Only those huge tropical cyclones do it. Other times, we may have an eye that is reduced to smaller and more compact diameters. For example, Typhoon Carmen must have an eye of 370 kilometers, being the largest on record, while Hurricane Wilma had only one eye of 3.7 kilometers.

Some active hurricanes and typhoons generate the so-called rental eye or rental head eye. It occurs when the eye of the tropical cyclone is much smaller than usual. This is what happened to Typhoon Hagibis in 2019. A smaller eye makes the hurricane more powerful as the cyclone around the eye spins much faster. Intense tropical cyclones that have a rental eye often create strong fluctuations in high intensity due to their associated winds.

Among the characteristics of Typhoon Hagibis we find its mesoscale size. This means that it is a typhoon that is difficult to forecast in terms of both the trajectory and the intensity of the winds. Another characteristic feature of Typhoon Hagibis, in addition to its hurricane eye, is the eye wall and precipitation bands that represent all the components that are important in storms. Finally, the bands of rain are those clouds that are forming storms and that move around the wall of the eye. They are usually up to hundreds of kilometers long and are highly dependent on the size of the cyclone as a whole. The bands rotate counterclockwise always when we are in the northern hemisphere and they also tend to contain winds with great force.

The great intensification of Typhoon Hagibis

pinhead

One of the most special cases in history since the formation of hurricanes and typhoons has been recorded is Typhoon Hagibis. It is a super typhoon that passed through the north of the Mariana Islands located in the Pacific Ocean on October 7, 2019. It passed through these islands as a category 5 tropical cyclone accompanied by very intense winds of the order of 260 kilometers per hour.

What stood out most about this typhoon was its degree of sudden intensification. And it is that it had a degree of intensification that few cyclones have achieved. It happened in just 24 hours to have winds of 96 km / h to have winds of 260 km / h. An increase in this speed in the maximum sustained winds is a very rare and rapid kind of intensification.

So far, NOAA's Hurricane Research Division lists only one typhoon in the Pacific Northwest that did so: Super Typhoon Forrest of 1983. Today, it is still considered the strongest storm in the world. What stands out most about this large size but the tiny eye that rotates in the center and around a larger eye as if it were trapped inside. As time passed, the diameter of the typhoon's eye measured 5 nautical miles, while a secondary eye took hold of it.

The eye of the hurricane constitutes the center of a cyclone that the average does not get to be too big, and it is called the pinhead eye. Days after its formation, it came into contact with the uninhabited island of Anatahan and moved away from Micronesia. It weakened as it moved north, and about a week later it turned into a Category 1-2 storm when it reached Japan. The name Hagibis means speed in Tagalog, hence its name.

Super Typhoon Hagibis

typhoon hagibis threat

It was considered the worst event on the planet since in a matter of hours it went from being a very simple tropical storm to a category 5 hurricane. It is the fastest transformation of all time, and one of the most powerful due to its own intensity. By counting on the rental head made it a really dangerous typhoon.

Its formation, like the rest of hurricanes, took place in the middle of the ocean. We know that due to a drop in pressure, the air tends to fill in the gap left by the drop in pressure. Once the hurricane feeds in the ocean and reaches the mainland, it no longer has a way to feed itself and more, so it loses strength as it enters. The 1983 Forrest super typhoon, and although it had the same formation speed, it was less powerful due to not having the same pin-eye.

This transformation has had a lot to do with its unusual characteristics. The satellite images that were obtained showed that it had a very small eye inside a larger one. Both were fused generating a larger eye and increased its power. As a general rule, all typhoons have an eye whose diameter depends on the force it has. If it is smaller it is more dangerous.

I hope that with this information you can learn more about Typhoon Hagibis and its characteristics.


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