Time to Wax that Surfboard
August 30, 2006 7:15 AM   Subscribe

There's a big storm in the pacific. They're calling it a Super Typhoon. It has winds of 160-185 miles per hour, and it's expected to completely submerge Wake Island. Happy Katrinaversary.
posted by 1-2punch (38 comments total)
 
A 1-2punch .. bad Atlantic season then a bad Pacific season.
posted by stbalbach at 7:27 AM on August 30, 2006


Weather Underground's blogs don't seem to be following it too closely. Are there any good weather geek sites following this storm?
posted by empath at 7:30 AM on August 30, 2006


If you look at wake island in google earth there appears to have been a bridge nocked off it's moorings (or whatever) between the two islands when the picture was taken.
posted by delmoi at 7:32 AM on August 30, 2006


Is there anything else in the area for it to hit? Wake Island is pretty much in the middle of nowhere.
posted by smackfu at 7:33 AM on August 30, 2006


Wow, that's one tacky, heartless Western Union ad in the last link.
posted by leapingsheep at 7:53 AM on August 30, 2006


In the continental US, it's easy to overlook typhoons, but just one of them a few weeks ago killed nearly 450 people. Contrast that with this hurricane, which killed far fewer people but caused roughly ten times as much damage in dollar figures.
posted by pax digita at 8:15 AM on August 30, 2006


I'm a West Pacific storm watcher. Ioke is one of the few I've seen that has traveled unimpeded from Hawaii to Asia.

An amazing tropical cycle ioke is.

Look.

Here where it starts and here's where it's headed.
posted by rmmcclay at 8:17 AM on August 30, 2006


cyclone...
posted by rmmcclay at 8:17 AM on August 30, 2006


Highest point on Wake Island = 6metres/20feet

Maximum significant wave height reported so far = 50 feet
posted by carter at 8:42 AM on August 30, 2006


Wake Island evacuated.

For the first time in nearly five decades, this tiny coral atoll in the middle of the Pacific, where its highest point barely rises to about 18 feet, has been evacuated [because of Category 5 Super Typhoon Ioke].
posted by rmmcclay at 8:49 AM on August 30, 2006


An amazing tropical cycle!
posted by CynicalKnight at 9:41 AM on August 30, 2006


Holy shit. How wide is that thing?
posted by Iridic at 9:51 AM on August 30, 2006


"Ioke is the first storm on record to develop in the Central Pacific and achieve Category 5 status, according to the National Weather Service. Satellite images into the eye of the storm showed it set an unofficial record for the lowest sea level pressure.
Ioke has been a Category 4 storm or higher for about a week already, making it one of the longest-lasting storms in world history, Powell said. It is currently ranked as the fifth-strongest storm ever seen in the Central Pacific, and it's the first Category 5 storm in the region since Hurricane John in 1994."

posted by X4ster at 10:16 AM on August 30, 2006


The current conditions have tropical storm winds in 130nm radius from the eye. So, that's a circle about 300 miles wide.

Or, about the distance from Baton Rouge to Destin, FL.
posted by dw at 10:17 AM on August 30, 2006


Hey, how come they get Super Typhoons and all we get is category-rated hurricanes? It's not fair, I'm telling Mom.
posted by Marla Singer at 10:18 AM on August 30, 2006


A typhoon and a hurricane are the same thing.
posted by Baby_Balrog at 10:46 AM on August 30, 2006


Ioke is a category 5 hurricane.
posted by Baby_Balrog at 10:46 AM on August 30, 2006


Not exactly the same thing.

Typhoons and hurricanes are both the same type of storm, yes, but you wouldn't refer to an Atlantic storm as a typhoon, nor a Pacific storm as a hurricane. They are geographically specific.

(At least, that's what I was taught in my meteorology class back in college)
posted by dead_ at 10:51 AM on August 30, 2006


A hurricane,
by any name,
still remains
a hurricane!


An MP3 link, from the wonderful Singing Science Records... also occasionally heard on RocketBoom
posted by CynicalKnight at 10:57 AM on August 30, 2006


Technically, a tropical cyclone by any other name....
posted by Mr Stickfigure at 11:04 AM on August 30, 2006


I blame Al Gore's SUV.
posted by dsquid at 11:09 AM on August 30, 2006


The joke used to go,

"Why does the NWS always name hurricanes after girls?"

"Well, who ever heard of a himmicane?"

I think "typhoon" comes from tai fun (big wind) and "hurricane comes from huracán, a Spanish word borrowed from a West Indian one, same general idea.
posted by pax digita at 11:13 AM on August 30, 2006


Holy shit. How wide is that thing?

Having a quick glance at the parallels on that satellite photo, it looks to be ~1000km wide.
posted by jimmythefish at 11:30 AM on August 30, 2006


Sheesh, and I'm headed to Japan next week. Wonder if it's headed that direction?
posted by sotonohito at 11:35 AM on August 30, 2006


Come ON! Those guys get SOOO much carry-on. i swear i saw one of them with a pepsi too. That's so biased! They didn't even pay, they should have to leave everything they own at home including their clothes.
posted by wumpus at 11:35 AM on August 30, 2006


A typhoon and a hurricane are the same thing.
posted by Baby_Balrog at 10:46 AM PST on August 30


Well, duh. But why don't we get super hurricanes? If there had been warnings that Super Hurricane Katrina was headed for New Orleans, or news that Super Hurricane Katrina had devastated the Gulf Coast, might the response have been different?

(I doubt it. nevermind.)
posted by Marla Singer at 12:46 PM on August 30, 2006


smackfu: Looks like the nearest land to Wake Island is Kamwome and Sibylla, about 350 miles away at the northern extremety of the Marshall Islands.

Or, in other words, no. It's in the absolute definition of the middle of nowhere.
posted by rusty at 2:31 PM on August 30, 2006


I always find it interesting to view large storms like this on the World Sunlight Map. Ioke is currently visible on the righthand side, and while it looks small at first, when you look at, say, Texas, and then look back at at Ioke, you can begin to get a feel for how big it must be.
posted by Marla Singer at 6:01 PM on August 30, 2006


A 1-2punch .. bad Atlantic season then a bad Pacific season?

Far as I know last year was a bad Pacific season too. That is going to be some mighty surf when it hits the West Coast.
posted by fshgrl at 6:20 PM on August 30, 2006


...when it hits the West Coast.

I gathered from the graphics linked above that Ioke was moving East, on course for Japan.

that area, between the Marshall Islands and Hawaii, is that place sorta like a Pacific hurricane alley? Tip took a similar path.
posted by carsonb at 6:46 PM on August 30, 2006


...to answer my own question: it's called the Northwestern Pacific Basin, the most active of seven areas worldwide that tend to froth up.
posted by carsonb at 7:00 PM on August 30, 2006


I think "typhoon" comes from tai fun (big wind)

Close ... the Yale version of Romanised Cantonese has it as toih fung or daaih fung (sometimes expressed as a verb-object compound, as in daaihfung), but you're right that it translates as "big wind".

The last really big typhoon to hit Hong Kong more or less dead on was York in 1999*, which did a fair bit of damage, but nothing approaching the devastation in New Orleans.

It was preceded by Typhoon Sam, which crashed a jet trying to land at Chep Lap Kok.

*Apologies for the self-links, but I felt some folks might enjoy reading about York and previous signal no.10 typhoons to hit Hong Kong.
posted by bwg at 7:35 PM on August 30, 2006


I always find it interesting to view large storms like this on the World Sunlight Map.

Eyeballing it, it looks like it's about the same size as Borneo (743,330 sq km, or 287,000 square miles). Although how much of that swirl is 'real typhoon,' I don't know.
posted by carter at 9:13 PM on August 30, 2006


Or, about the same size as the Gulf of Mexico. Geez.
posted by carter at 9:14 PM on August 30, 2006


If the station is still standing when you read this (or not under 50 feet of water), here's the current weather on Wake Island.
posted by dw at 12:44 AM on August 31, 2006


Latest news: Ioke makes direct hit on Wake Island
posted by Marla Singer at 9:03 AM on August 31, 2006


"They're calling it a Super Typhoon..."

"...about the same size as the Gulf of Mexico..."

Meanwhile, it sprinkled in north Texas the other day, bringing minor relief during a level four intensity drought that has taken hold of the region since last May, adversely affecting agriculture and hydrological... y'know... stuff. Estimated losses have exceeded 4.1 billion dollars.

But hey! On the plus side! We don't get hurricanes in Texas.. Except of course for Rita last year.
posted by ZachsMind at 9:17 AM on August 31, 2006


But hey! On the plus side! We don't get hurricanes in Texas.. Except of course for Rita last year.

What? Are you crazy...?
Texas Hurricane History


Prior to Katrina, "The worst natural disaster in U.S. history was the hurricane that hit Galveston, Texas, in 1900."
posted by nimsey lou at 9:27 AM on August 31, 2006


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