Blogs

As some may recall, the 2013 Hurricane season was expected to see an above average number of storms.  However, this season saw the fewest number of storms and severe storms in decades.  Some possible reasons are discussed here.

The week before Thanksgiving in the United States is usually a time when many people travel to return home to family and friends.  Last week a major storm threatened to disrupt these travel plans, but fortunately did not to any great extent.  Animation of this weather event was captured by the NASA GOES East satellite as below.  Further details can be found here.

2013 was a quiet season for hurricanes in the Atlantic.  In the Pacific however, one hurricane (called typhoons there) drew lots of attention --  Typhoon Haiyan.

I’ve blogged about hurricanes several times here…

http://www.openhazards.com/content/sandy-surge

http://www.openhazards.com/content/galveston-oh-galveston

A summary of destruction and death from Super Typhoon Haiyan can be found here.  This report is from the United Nations Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (UN-OCHA)

A brief summary and graphic can be found here.

Storm surge simulations of Haiyan and other cyclones, together with other types of analyses suggest this.  And many climate scientists think so.  What does this mean for countries such as the Philippines, which has seen death and destruction on an unimaginable scale?  For those trying to forecast the future, simulations offer a viable means of scenario-building.

For an update on the dire situation in the Philippines today, November 10, please go here and here.  The extent of the destruction is only now being revealed, and is similar to what was seen in Japan following the devastating earthquake and typhoon of March 11, 2011.

As of this writing, typhoon Haiyan/Yolanda has moved through the Phiippines, having killed at least 140 persons and possibly many more. Other information can be found here.  Haiyan now threatens Vietnam.  Evacuations are currently ongoing in the Da Nang area.  

Updates can be found here and here.

For an update on current conditions as of November 6, please go here.