TYPHOON TIP, THE MOST INTENSE TROPICAL CYCLONE

Today, The Grandma has been reading about Typhoon Tip, that became the largest and most intense tropical cyclone ever recorded on a day like today in 1979.

 

Typhoon Tip, known in the Philippines as Typhoon Warling, was the largest and most intense tropical cyclone ever recorded.

The forty-third tropical depression, nineteenth tropical storm, twelfth typhoon, and third super typhoon of the 1979 Pacific typhoon season, Tip developed out of a disturbance within the monsoon trough on October 4 near Pohnpei in Micronesia. Initially, Tropical Storm Roger to the northwest hindered the development and motion of Tip, though after the storm tracked farther north, Tip was able to intensify. After passing Guam, Tip rapidly intensified and reached peak sustained winds of 305 km/h and a worldwide record-low sea-level pressure of 870 hPa on October 12.

At its peak intensity, Tip was the largest tropical cyclone on record, with a wind diameter of 2,220 km. Tip slowly weakened as it continued west-northwestward and later turned to the northeast, in response to an approaching trough. The typhoon made landfall in southern Japan on October 19, and became an extratropical cyclone shortly thereafter.

Tip's extratropical remnants continued moving east-northeastward, until they dissipated near the Aleutian Islands on October 24.

U.S. Air Force aircraft flew 60 weather reconnaissance missions into the typhoon, making Tip one of the most closely observed tropical cyclones. Rainfall from Tip indirectly led to a fire that killed 15 Marines and injured 68 at Combined Arms Training Center, Camp Fuji in the Shizuoka Prefecture of Japan. Elsewhere in the country, the typhoon caused widespread flooding and 42 deaths; offshore shipwrecks left 44 people killed or missing.

At the end of September 1979, three circulations developed within the monsoon trough that extended from the Philippines to the Marshall Islands.

More information: Hurricanes Science

Owing to very favorable conditions for development, Typhoon Tip rapidly intensified over the open waters of the western Pacific Ocean. Late on October 10, Tip attained wind speeds equal to Category 4 strength on the Saffir-Simpson Hurricane Scale (SSHS), and it became a super typhoon on the next day.

The central pressure dropped by 92 hPa from October 9 to 11, during which the circulation pattern of Typhoon Tip expanded to a record diameter of 2,220 km. Tip continued to intensify further, becoming a Category 5-equivalent super typhoon, and early on October 12, reconnaissance aircraft recorded a worldwide record-low pressure of 870 with 1-minute sustained winds of 305 km/h, when Tip was located about 840 km west-northwest of Guam.

In its best track, the Japan Meteorological Agency listed Tip as peaking with 10-minute sustained winds of 260 km/h. At the time of its peak strength, its eye was 15 km wide.

Tip crossed the 135th meridian east on the afternoon of October 13, prompting the PAGASA to issue warnings on Typhoon Tip, assigning it the local name Warling.

After peaking in intensity, Tip weakened to 230 km/h and remained at that intensity for several days, as it continued west-northwestward. For five days after its peak strength, the average radius of winds stronger than 55 km/h extended over 1,100 km.

On October 17, Tip began to weaken steadily and decrease in size, recurving northeastward under the influence of a mid-level trough the next day. After passing about 65 km east of Okinawa, the typhoon accelerated to 75 km/h.

Tip made landfall on the Japanese island of Honshū with winds of about 130 km/h on October 19. It continued rapidly northeastward through the country and became an extratropical cyclone over northern Honshū a few hours after moving ashore. The extratropical remnant of Tip proceeded east-northeastward and gradually weakened, crossing the International Date Line on October 22. The storm was last observed near the Aleutian Islands of Alaska on October 24.

Typhoon Tip was the largest tropical cyclone on record, with a diameter of 2,220 km -almost double the previous record of 1,130 km set by Typhoon Marge in August 1951. At its largest, Tip was nearly half the size of the contiguous United States. The temperature inside the eye of Typhoon Tip at peak intensity was 30 °C  and described as exceptionally high. With 10-minute sustained winds of 260 km/h, Typhoon Tip is the strongest cyclone in the complete tropical cyclone listing by the Japan Meteorological Agency.

More information: Scientific American

Typhoons are a sort of violent whirlwinds.
Before these whirlwinds come on...
there appears a heavy cloud to the northeast
which is very black near the horizon,
but toward the upper part is a dull reddish color.
The tempest came with great violence,
but after a while,
the winds ceased all at once and a calm succeeded.
This lasted... an hour, more or less,
then the gales were turned around,
blowing with great fury from the southwest.

William Dampier