Super Typhoon Haiyan.....Could Be Strongest Ever!

 

You don't have to be a meteorologist to know that the above image illustrates a very strong storm that will cause catastrophic devastation. Super Typhoon Haiyan, shown above could go down as the strongest and most destructive tropical cyclone on record. It's cloud mass covers over 2/3 of the entire country of the Philippines, winds are sustained around 195mph (equivalent to an EF-4 tornado), with gusts of 235mph (equivalent to an EF-5 tornado) at its core. Haiyan's movement is due west at a quick clip which would lead to a small window of time to weaken. Additionally, the latest report noted, based on satellite feeds, that the center of Haiyan had a minimal central pressure of 858mb (http://www.ssd.noaa.gov/PS/TROP/DATA/2013/tdata/wpac/31W.html), which would put this storm as the strongest on record.

At the moment, Haiyan could weaken before landfall with sustained winds of 150mph, however, this storm is moving so fast, that the communities in the path of Haiyan may still experience its full extreme impact.

To view Haiyans final visible image in motion click here.

Besides Haiyan, the other famous storm to make headlines in the western Pacific was Super Typhoon Tip, back in 1979.

At it's peak, Tip had a minimal central pressure of 870mb (which is the lowest official reading on record, before Haiyan could move into the top spot), winds sustained at 190mph, with a width of 1,380miles. Eventually, Tip made landfall over the southern regions of Japan.

Closer the the United States, don't forget about Hurricane Camille in 1969. This storm made landfall along the Gulf coast with sustained winds of 190mph.

Extreme weather happens all the time, but Haiyan may top the charts as the strongest storm on record.

"Take a look up once in a while; you never know what you’ll miss."

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Huge Drought Improvement

Sunshine galore over the past couple of days, with even more to come. However, the early part of January featured plenty of clouds and a wall of water. Many locations across the Brazos Valley averaged between 3-6 inches of rain so far this month. Most coming within a 7 day period between January 7th and the 13th. Despite the heaping portions of rainfall, flooding was not a big concern. On the other hand, the ground, and vegetation were so happy to soak it all in.

In fact, there was so much rain here and across the state of Texas, that the drought situation improved tremendously. Before I show you how we ended up, here is a look at the state's drought monitor looked during last weeks report. On the right is the color coded map indicating where there is drought and where the drought is the worst. Areas in tan to brick red indicate where drought conditions were as of the January 8th report. Brick red represents the worst category of drought, "Exceptional Drought", and tan indicates a "Moderate Drought." Locations shaded in yellow are not in drought conditions, but are noted as "Abnormally Dry." From the January 8th report, here is how the state broke down.

None (no drought or dry conditions): 4.29%
Abnormally Dry (or worse): 95.71%
Moderate Drought (or worse): 83.78%
Severe Drought (or worse): 65.85%
Extreme Drought (or worse): 34.79%
Exceptional Drought (the worst category): 11.41%

From the numbers above, the state is quite dry, but nowhere near the deep drought from the summer of 2011. Again, this is before the massive rains.

Following several wet events, the map looks a lot different, and the numbers show off monumental improvements in just one week. The next image illustrates the current drought situation from the latest report that came out this morning.

When you look at the color scheme, you don't even need to see the statistics to know that the entire state has shown impressive progress in just a week. From the latest report, here are the numbers.


None (not abnormally dry or worse): 9.48%
Abnormally Dry (or worse): 90.52%
Moderate Drought (or worse): 74.01%
Severe Drought (or worse): 50.49%
Extreme Drought (or worse): 20.84%
Exceptional Drought (the worst category): 6.72%


Numbers don't lie, and even parts of the Brazos Valley are not even in drought conditions at this time.

Even though the extended forecast calls for lots of sun and barely any rainfall, its always good to get rain in Texas. I'll keep you updated.

For more news and weather you can log onto: www.facebook.com/plushnickweather or www.facebook.com/KAGSTV. You can also check out our twitter feeds: @KAGSweather and @KAGSnews. Furthermore, you can download our new weather app. Search: KAGS Weather, in the Apple App Store or Google Play for Android.