We know that tropical cyclones can intensify rapidly. Many of them reach Category 5 or similar. When a tropical cyclone reaches these categories, it is known as a hurricane or typhoon. Many of them display a small, well-defined, and compact eye, which is most evident, especially in satellite and radar images. These are the characteristics that often mark the strength of a tropical cyclone. Today we're going to talk about the Typhoon Hagibis, since he was quite special in terms of his eye and training.
In this article we are going to tell you everything you need to know about Typhoon Hagibis, its characteristics and its formation.
Key features
When we talk about hurricanes and typhoons, they are essentially composed of three parts: the eye, the eyewall, and the rainbands. When we talk about the eye of a hurricane, we're talking about the center of the tropical cyclone around which the entire system revolves. On average, the eye of the hurricane is usually approximately 30-70 kilometers in diameter. In some cases, it can reach a larger diameter, although this is not the most common. Only tropical cyclones of enormous size achieve this. Other times, we can have an eye that reduces to smaller, more compact diameters. For example, Typhoon Carmen must have had an eye of 370 kilometers, making it the largest on record, while Hurricane Wilma had a mere 3.7 kilometers.
Some active hurricanes and typhoons generate a so-called rental eye, or rental-head eye. This occurs when the eye of the tropical cyclone is much smaller than usual. This is what happened with Typhoon Hagibis in 2019. A smaller eye makes the hurricane more powerful, as the cyclone around the eye rotates much faster. Intense tropical cyclones with a rental eye often create strong fluctuations in high intensity due to their associated winds.
Among the characteristics of Typhoon Hagibis we find its mesoscale size. This means it's a difficult typhoon to forecast, both in terms of its trajectory and wind intensity. Another characteristic of Typhoon Hagibis, in addition to its hurricane-like eye, is the eyewall and precipitation bands, which represent all the important components of thunderstorms. Finally, rainbands are the storm-forming clouds that move around the eyewall. They are often hundreds of kilometers long and depend heavily on the overall size of the cyclone. The bands rotate counterclockwise whenever we are in the Northern Hemisphere and also tend to contain very strong winds.
The great intensification of Typhoon Hagibis
One of the most special cases in history since the formation of hurricanes and typhoons has been recorded is Typhoon Hagibis. It is a super typhoon that passed through the north of the Mariana Islands located in the Pacific Ocean on October 7, 2019. It passed through these islands as a category 5 tropical cyclone accompanied by very intense winds of the order of 260 kilometers per hour.
What stood out most about this typhoon was its degree of sudden intensification. And it is that it had a degree of intensification that few cyclones have achieved. In just 24 hours, it went from having winds of 96 km/h to having winds of 260 km/h. An increase in this speed in the maximum sustained winds is a very rare and rapid kind of intensification.
So far, NOAA's Hurricane Research Division lists only one typhoon in the Pacific Northwest that did so: Super Typhoon Forrest of 1983. It is still considered the world's strongest storm. What stands out most about this large size is the tiny eye that spins in the center and around a larger eye, as if trapped inside. As time went on, the diameter of the typhoon's eye measured 5 nautical miles, while a secondary eye took hold of it.
The eye of the hurricane is the center of a cyclone that, on average, is not very large and is called a pinhead. Days after its formation, it made contact with the uninhabited island of Anatahan and moved away from Micronesia. It weakened as it moved northward, and after a week, it became a Category 1-2 storm when it reached Japan. The name Hagibis means speed in Tagalog, hence its name.
Super Typhoon Hagibis
It was considered the worst event on the planet, as it transformed from a very simple tropical storm into a Category 5 hurricane in a matter of hours. This was the fastest transformation of all time and one of the most powerful due to its intensity. With its hired gun, made it a really dangerous typhoon.
Its formation, like that of other hurricanes, took place in the middle of the ocean. We know that, due to a drop in pressure, air tends to fill the gap left by the drop in pressure. Once a hurricane feeds in the ocean and reaches land, it has no other way to feed and, therefore, loses strength as it moves inland. Super Typhoon Forrest of 1983, although it formed at the same speed, was less powerful because it didn't have the same pinprick of an eye.
This transformation has a lot to do with its unusual characteristics. Satellite images revealed a very small eye inside a larger one. The two fused together, creating a larger eye and increasing its power. As a general rule, All typhoons have an eye whose diameter depends on their strength. If it's smaller, it's more dangerous.
I hope that with this information you can learn more about Typhoon Hagibis and its characteristics.