Sunday, May 4, 2008

Myanmar Cyclone

While our Atlantic Hurricane season is only a little under a month away, across the country people are seeing tropical weather of their own. The image below was taken from the Associated Press. It is a satellite image of Cyclone Nargis as it made landfall on the capital of Yangon over the weekend.

The images above, also from the Associated Press, show the aftermath of the cyclone. According to the Associated Press, the storm made landfall with winds up to 150 mph. They fear 350 people may be dead; entire villages were destroyed.

According to the Joint Typhoon Warning Center, the cyclone reached sustain winds of 132 mph before making landfall. To compare the strength of this storm to well-know and recent hurricanes in the United States, this is equivalent to a Category 4 hurricane (winds 131-155 mph.) Hurricane Charley, which made landfall in 2004 just north of Captiva Island, Fla., continuing on to Punta Gorda, just south of Ft. Meyers, Fla., was a Cat 4 storm. To compare the storm to a Cat 5 (winds greater than 155 mph,) this storm would have been weaker than Hurricane Andrew of 1992, or the well-know Hurricane Katrina. *Please note I am comparing the storms before they made landfall.*

2 comments:

the weatherman said...
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the weatherman said...

This is one of the worst cyclone to hit the Asia-Pacific..Death toll already reach more than 22 000 and there are 41 000 still missing..Major concern now for Myanmar are the relief goods,medical assistance but the sad thing about this is that Myanmar rulers still don't accept those help coming from the US,French and other countries. So the relief and aid kit are moving so slow which many of the victims do badly need..