 DISCUSSION: As of late last night (i.e., early Wednesday afternoon per the local time in southeastern China), Typhoon Hato finished its final approach towards southeastern China as a Typhoon with maximum sustained winds of 105 MPH and higher gusts periodically up to around 125 MPH; making it the equivalent of a Category 2 hurricane. However, as it consistently being found across many areas being directly impacted by this strong tropical cyclone, there is much less wind damage being inflicted on both coastal and semi-inland areas in the path of Hato. Alternatively, the majority of the damage up to this point has been directly connected to the incoming storm surge directly along certain parts of the Southeastern China coastline. Attached above is a YouTube video which contains raw footage of part of the landfall of Typhoon Hato within the past couple of hours. Note how the impacts are certainly not as great in and around the city of Hong Kong as some were expecting and/or projecting out ahead of this tropical cyclone's landfall. Also, note how in the earlier infrared satellite image attached above, there is also somewhat limited storm-oriented symmetry which also indicates the clear lack of balanced energy distribution within the tropical cyclone prior to landfall and helps to somewhat explain the mitigated magnitude of the associated impacts.
To learn more about other high-impact weather events occurring across the Indian Ocean and Asia, be sure to click here! ©2017 Meteorologist Jordan Rabinowitz
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 DISCUSSION: Heavy monsoonal rains have wreaked havoc in northern India, southern Nepal, and Bangladesh. Extreme flooding and landslides have killed 160 people and displaced millions of others across the region. The rainfall, which started in eastern Nepal, was caused by an area of low pressure forming over the hills as it gradually moved west.
Particularly in Nepal, the Rapti and Budhirapti rivers flow through a large part of the country towards the southern plains. After their banks burst, many areas in the Chitwan Valley were inundated with water. This region includes human settlements and popular tourist attractions. Nearly 100 hotels were flooded and left at least 700 people stranded, with officials turning to elephants to aid in the rescue. The rains destroyed more than 50,000 homes and left runways in the nearby airport of Biratnagar under two feet of water. From June through September during the monsoon season, flooding and landslides are fairly common. However, Nepal’s energy minister Mahendra Bahadur Sahi believes there is more to it: “The highways made by elevating the land next to the Nepal-India border have restricted the natural flow of water, leaving Nepal’s Terai plains submerged during the rainy season.” To learn more about other high-impact weather events occurring across the Indian Ocean and Asia, be sure to click here! ©2017 Meteorologist Nicholas Quaglieri  DISCUSSION: In looking to the Southern Indian Ocean, there is a very neat large-scale atmospheric pattern in place at the present time. As shown in the graphic above (courtesy of the National Centers for Environmental Prediction's (NCEP) Global Forecast System (GFS) model), there is a particularly strong high-pressure system positioned in the southwest Indian Ocean. In addition, there is also a strong low pressure system positioned in the southeast Indian Ocean. As a result of the strong high pressure system being positioned adjacent to the strong low pressure system, this has created a very strong pressure gradient across the southern Indian Ocean. As a consequence of this strong pressure gradient (i.e., a sharp change in mean sea-level pressure along some straight-line distance), this also has created impressively strong winds across a good portion of the south-central Indian Ocean (i.e., winds greater than or equal to 40 knots). It goes without saying that this is a classic high-next-to-low synoptic scenario and that it will take some time for this strong high to strong low combination to wind down with time.
To learn more about other high-impact weather events occurring across the Indian Ocean and Asia, be sure to click here! ©2017 Meteorologist Jordan Rabinowitz |
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