Several Powerful Typhoons And A Major Hurricane Make Headlines In Last Month

Over the past week, Hurricaneville has been tracking what is now Tropical Storm Rina in the Northwestern Caribbean.  This latest storm in the Atlantic Basin was the first storm in several weeks.  Prior to that, there had been Ophelia at the end of September, and Philippe in early October.  These two storms ended up being hurricanes.  Ophelia battled difficult circumstances, but eventually became a major hurricane with 140 mile per hour winds.

Before Rina emerged in the Western Caribbean, and threatened the Yucatan Peninsula in the past week, activity had picked up quite a bit in the Eastern Pacific and Western Pacific.  There had been several powerful typhoons in the West Pacific including Typhoon Roke, Typhoon Nesat, and Typhoon Nalgae.  All three had the intensity of a major hurricane with two of them being classified as super typhoons with Category Four strength on the Saffir-Simpson Scale.  Nesat and Nalgae moved over the same part of the Philippines, and left a great deal of flooding and devastation there.  Meanwhile, Roke made landfall over Japan.

Nesat and Nalgae as well as Tropical Storm Haitang all ended up making their final landfalls over Vietnam.  While these storms were much weaker when they came through these areas, they brought significant rainfall to Indochina, which has resulted in major flooding in places such as Thailand.  The capital city of Bangkok is still under siege from floodwaters.  So far this year, there have been 34 tropical depressions, 20 tropical storms, 8 typhoons, and 4 super typhoons in the WestPAC.  The storms have left 459 people dead, and an estimated $4.4 billion in damages.  The Western Pacific Basin is the most active in the world with some of the most powerful storms forming there.

Further east in the Pacific, there had been an increase in activity as well with the development of several storms and a depression.  When we last reported on the tropics in late September, we were dealing with a powerful storm in Hurricane Hilary.  A little while after that, Hurricane Irwin developed, and then Hurricane Jova emerged.  For a while, it appeared that the West Coast of Mexico was going to get a one-two punch of powerful storms.  With these latest storms, there have been 12 tropical depressions, 10 named storms, 9 hurricanes, and 5 major hurricanes.  

Jova was the biggest threat to Mexico as a Category Three major hurricane with maximum sustained winds topping out at 125 miles per hour.  Irwin was only a Category One storm with 90 mile per hour winds.  Hilary was a Category Four system, but stayed offshore.  Before making landfall near Jalisco, Mexico, Hurricane Jova began an eyewall replacement cycle, and weakened to a Category Two Hurricane with 100 mile per hour winds.  Even after dissipating, the storm still produced significant rains in the interior of Mexico.  Jova left eight people dead, and caused some $28 million in damage.  With climate conditions turning back to a mild La Nina episode this summer, the Eastern Pacific has had to deal with cooler than normal sea surface temperatures.