Super Typhoon Haiyan

You may hear about a super typhoon on the news tonight and tomorrow.  In fact, you may hear about a super typhoon in the news for quite some time.  The super typhoon I am referring to is Haiyan.  The reason you may hear about the storm for a while is because of the damage this storm will likely cause to southeast Asia.

Here is a visible satellite image of Super Typhoon Hiayan prior to landfall in the Philippines from Thursday afternoon.

The storm is very impressive.  Here are a few factoids about the storm.

• Super Typhoon Haiyan had 195 mph sustained winds with gusts to 235 mph prior to Philippines landfall.
• From a NOAA employeee: Super Typhoon Haiyan at 195mph (sustained winds) and wind gusts to 235mph is worse than Hurricane Andrew, on par with Hurricane Mitch and much worse than Hurricane Katrina.
• Satellite estimates of Super Typhoon Haiyan's central barometric pressure is 25.34" (or 858mb).  If true, this would make the storm the earth's most intense on record.
• Wave heights have been measured at 44-50 feet.
• The same area being hit by the super typhoon experienced a 7.1-magnitude earthquake last month, killing 222 people.

The last forecast track I saw from the U.S. Navy suggests the storm will move back out over the South China Sea and the storm will make a second landfall in Vietnam in a couple of days.

As I saw someone say earlier... This is an international storm that will require international response.