Typhoon Haiyan Reaches Devastating Records

According to expert meteorologists, Typhoon Haiyan was about as strong as it could theoretically get when it made landfall in the Philippines. The event killed thousands of people and drove hundreds of thousands from their homes due to its record high attributes. Kerry Emanuel, a climate scientist at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, commented on the devastatingly high attributes of the storm, stating that "The tragedy of this particular storm is that it reached its limit just about the time it made landfall.” Based on satellite imagery, the U.S. military's Joint Typhoon Warning Center estimated that Haiyan's winds reached a sustained peak of 195 mph shortly before it made landfall, with strong gusts that reached upwards of 235 mph. Other estimates were reportedly lower, including those from the Philippine weather officials who suggested that the storm had sustained winds of 147 mph and gusts of 170 mph when it hit land. Nevertheless, Typhoon Haiyan ranks among the strongest tropical storms. If the higher estimates are correct, Typhoon Haiyan beats hurricane Camille, which hit the northern Gulf Coast in 1969 with sustained winds of 190 mph. Experts have provided several factors for why the storm reached such record setting highs. For instance, Bryan Norcross, The Weather Channel's hurricane specialist, explained that Haiyan followed an avenue that was outside the traditional "Typhoon Alley" for the Philippines because the high pressure to the north was a little farther south. This pushed the storm track farther to the south towards the central Philippines. When the storm passed over funnel-shaped bay of Tacloban, it turned the storm surge into a 20-foot-high wall of water.

Survivors walk past a ship that lies on top of damaged homes after it was washed ashore in Tacloban city, in the central Philippines, as a result of the typhoon.