Typhoon Hagupit weakens, not super anymore As of late Thursday evening, the typhoon weakened to the equivalent of a Category 4 hurricane with sustained winds of 144 mph. Hagupit is no longer considered to be a super typhoon due to this slight weakening, but still remains a major threat for the Philippines. Hagupit has encountered some increased wind shear and dry air as it approaches the Philippines, which will likely lead to further weakening of the cyclone; however, it will remain very dangerous with catastrophic damage expected near where it makes landfall. Wind gusts over 240 kph (150 mph) are expected near landfall in eastern Visayas. Landfall is expected within 100 miles of where Super Typhoon Haiyan made landfall last year. With landfall farther north, the hardest-hit areas by Haiyan will escape the worst tidal surge from Hagupit but will still be severely impacted including the city of Tacloban which was devastated by Haiyan. To make matters worse, some areas are still trying to recover from Haiyan, which will leave them more vulnerable to the impacts of Hagupit. Hagupit will slow its forward speed as it approaches and moves through the Philippines from Saturday into early next week. Due to this slow movement, areas will experience this extreme weather for a long duration, further increasing the damage and impacts of the storm. While Hagupit will weaken as it moves westward across the Philippines, it will may still be a typhoon when it emerges into the South China Sea to the west of the Philippines next week. The cyclone would then continue westward and could make another landfall with life-threatening impacts in Vietnam late next week. Another scenario would be that Hagupit weakens significantly over the Philippines and does not maintain tropical cyclone status beyond early next week. Whatever is left of the cyclone would still drift westward across the South China Sea with possible impacts on Vietnam. Source: Accuweather
Posted on: Fri, 05 Dec 2014 05:36:56 +0000
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