10.18.10

Super Typhoon Megi (Juan) Makes Landfall as One Of The Strongest Landfalling Tropical Cyclones

Posted in Non-US Weather, Tropical Weather, Weather News at 10:29 am by Rebekah

Super Typhoon Megi made landfall in the Philippines early this morning, on the northern end of the island of Luzon. With a reported pressure of 914 mb, Megi was one of the strongest landfalling tropical cyclones on record (Category 5 Dean in 2007 had a landfalling pressure of 905 mb).

Infrared satellite image of Megi at landfall, from Weather Underground:

Megi bottomed out just before landfall at 885 mb, the strongest tropical cyclone since Hurricane Wilma in 2005 (882 mb, lowest pressure recorded in the Atlantic basin). Megi’s 10-minute sustained maximum winds peaked at 145 mph…1-minute sustained winds, which are used in the US to determine the ranking on the Saffir-Simpson Scale, peaked at 185 mph. Wind gusts were up to 220 mph.

Different ocean basins have different classification schemes for tropical cyclones, hence the different names. If Megi were in the Atlantic or eastern Pacific, the tropical cyclone would have been classified a Category 5 hurricane. In the waters of the western Pacific, Megi was called a “super typhoon”.

For more information on how tropical cyclones are classified based on ocean basin, see the chart on one of my previous blog entries, “Tropical Cyclone Ului Make Landfall in Australia“.

You may have heard Megi being called “Juan” as well. Megi is the “official” name for the tropical cyclone, but the Philippine Meteorological Service is calling the storm Juan. Different countries are allowed to have their own names for the storms, though the official naming goes to the World Meteorological Organization, who names the storm based on a list of names contributed to by various countries around the western Pacific.

Megi is now the equivalent of a Category 2 on the Saffir-Simpson Scale, but is expected to increase to the equivalent of a Category 4, before decreasing in intensity again and striking the south China coast somewhere just south of Hong Kong.

Weather Underground forecast track map (click to enlarge):

Here’s what Megi looks like right now on satellite, from Weather Underground:

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