Severe Tropical Storm Mekkhala (2015)

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Severe Tropical Storm Mekkhala
(Amang)
Severe Tropical Storm ( JMA )
Category 1 Typhoon ( SSHWS )
Mekkhala makes landfall in the Philippines on January 17th
Mekkhala makes landfall in the Philippines on January 17th
Emergence 2015-01-13
resolution 2015-01-21
Peak wind
speed
110  km / h (70  mph ) (10 minutes sustained)
130  km / h (80  mph ) (sustained for 1 minute)
Lowest air pressure 975  hPa ( mbar )
dead 3 total
Property damage US $ 7.8 million (2015)
Affected
areas 		Caroline Islands , Philippines
Season overview:
Pacific typhoon season 2015

Severe Tropical Storm Mekkhala , known in the Philippines as Tropical Storm Amang , was a tropical cyclone occurring early in the 2015 Pacific typhoon season that hit the Philippines in January 2015 . Mekkhala's impact killed three people in the Bicol region and caused little damage to agriculture. Most of all, the cyclone disrupted Pope Francis ' visit , who, among other things, organized a mass for victims of the effects of Typhoon Haiyan , which swept the Philippines on November 8, 2013. The typhoon also caused an airplane to crash in Tacloban ; however, nobody was seriously harmed.

The system formed on January 13 between Guam and the Philippines. Throughout its existence it moved in a west-northwest direction. On January 14th, storm Yap passed north and intensified due to moderate wind shear . Conditions became more favorable for further development on January 16, and the storm quickly reached peak wind speeds of at least 110 km / h; a torn-looking eye prompted the US Joint Typhoon Warning Center (JTWC) to classify it as a typhoon . The storm eased slightly before hitting Samar on January 17th . Overland, Mekkhala continued to weaken and disintegrated east of Luzon on January 21 .

Storm course

Railway from Mekkhala

The future tropical cyclone Mekkhala was first identified on January 11th in an area about 205 km south-southwest of Chuuk in the Federated States of Micronesia as a tropical disturbance that appeared to be only partially beneficial for tropical development. At this point, the center's near-ground circulation was extensive and ill-defined, and a large band of deep atmospheric convection flickered on the north edge of the center. During the following day the system moved westward into a more favorable environment, and the atmospheric convection wrapped itself in the slowly consolidating center of circulation near the ground. As a result, the Japan Meteorological Agency began observing the system as a tropical depression early on January 13th. During the course of the day, the Joint Typhoon Warning Center began issuing warnings about the system and classified it as Tropical Depression 01W , although at this point the sustained one-minute wind speeds on the northern side of the system were already reaching gale force of 65 km / h.

Although the deep convection was shifted to the northwest from the exposed, ground-level circulation center early on January 14, the JMA upgraded the system to a tropical storm and named it Mekkhala , with the moderate vertical wind shear being offset by the excellent poleward outflow . In the follow-up analysis, the JMA retroactively increased the intensity of the storm at 12:00 UTC on January 13th. Late on January 14th, PAGASA gave the name Amang because he had reached their area of ​​responsibility.

Severe Tropical Storm Mekkhala makes landfall over Samar

The storm moved west-northwest and then west along the southern periphery of a subtropical front , and early on January 15, Mekkhala was upgraded to a tropical storm by the JTWC because the structure had slightly improved. Mekkhala intensified rapidly the next day as conditions improved; the wind shear came in line with the movement of the storm and the robust divergent outflow persisted. As a result, the JMA upgraded the system to a severe tropical storm on January 16 at 06:00 UTC, and the JTWC upgraded it to a typhoon during the day, while the Central Dense Overcast had intensified significantly and completely obscured the circulation center close to the ground. Microwave recordings later revealed that Mekkhala formed a torn eyewall . The storm reached its climax on January 17 at 00:00 UTC with 10-minute continuous wind speeds of 110 km / h, which the JMA operationally assessed as a typhoon with wind speeds of 130 km / h.

After weakening slightly, Mekkhala moved northwest and arrived overland via Dolores , Eastern Samar , around 3:00 p.m. Philippine Standard Time (7:00 a.m. UTC), where Typhoon Hagupit also hit land a month earlier. Both the JMA and JTWC downgraded Mekkhala to a tropical storm on January 17 because land exposure significantly weakened the storm. Mekkhala continued to erode as it passed over the Bicol region on January 18 , so the JTWC downgraded the storm to tropical depressions as it turned north and entered the Philippine Sea . Late that same day, the JMA also downgraded Mekkhala to a tropical low pressure area, and a short time later the JTWC issued the final warning that the circulation center became completely free due to strong wind shear. The residual tropical low drifted northeast and maintained its circulation east of Luzon until it was absorbed by a stationary front early on January 21.

Effects

The site of the papal mass in Tacloban on January 17th

On January 14th, Mekkhala passed about 95 km north of Yap and less than 45 km south of Ulithi Atoll . A peak gust of 58 km / h precipitation was measured. On Ulithi rainfall reached 100 mm; neither Ulithi nor Yap reported any personal injury or material damage worth mentioning.

The impact of Mekkhala, also known as Tropical Storm Amang in the Philippines, killed three people in the Bicol region of the Philippines . Damage in the region totaled ₱  318.7 million ( USD  7.1 million in 2015 prices; USD 7,643,000 in today's prices), mostly agricultural damage. The storm also caused ₱ 30.3 million agricultural damage (USD 680,000 in 2015 prices; USD 732,000 in today's prices) in Samar . The damage to the harvest and the subsequent drought caused bottlenecks in the supply of the Philippines with rice , so that the government imported rice in May 2015. A total of 48 houses were destroyed in the country and another 490 were significantly damaged. Damage to infrastructure reached ₱ 49.7 million (USD 1.1 million in 2015 prices; USD 0 million in today's prices); the repairs to the roads were carried out quickly and completed by January 21st. A volunteer from the Bicol region was killed by a loudspeaker overturned by the wind during the papal mass at Daniel Z. Romualdez Airport .

Pope Francis visited the storm-ravaged city on January 17 to comfort the residents of Tacloban who were affected by the devastation of Typhoon Haiyan 2013 and Typhoon Hagupit in December 2014. The schedule for his visit was greatly influenced by Mekkhala; Thousands of pilgrims and the Pope celebrated the mass in the open air at the airport in constant heavy rain. Only minutes after the plane with which the Pope left Tacloban took off, a private jet was blown off the runway by strong winds. The 15 passengers on board got away with the horror. Among them were members of the Philippine cabinet.

Web links

Remarks

  1. ↑ The name Mekkhala was submitted to the World Meteorological Organization by Thailand and is the name of the sea and thunder goddess Manimekhala ( มณี เมขลา ) in Thai .
  2. ↑ The Japan Meteorological Agency is the official Regional Specialized Meteorological Center for the western Pacific Ocean .
  3. ↑ The Joint Typhoon Warning Center is a joint task force of the United States Navy and United States Air Force that issues tropical storm warnings to United States facilities.

supporting documents

  1. ↑ List of names for tropical cyclones adopted by the ESCAP / WMO Typhoon Committee for the western North Pacific and the South China Sea (valid as of 2015). Japan Meteorological Agency, 2015, archived from the original on March 24, 2015 ; accessed on March 24, 2015 .
  2. ^ A b Significant Tropical Weather Advisory for the Western and South Pacific Oceans January 11, 2015 11z. United States Joint Typhoon Warning Center, archived from the original on January 12, 2015 ; accessed on August 30, 2016 (English).
  3. ^ Tropical Cyclone Formation Alert. Joint Typhoon Warning Center, archived from the original on January 19, 2015 ; accessed on January 19, 2015 (English).
  4. ↑ Annual Report on Activities of the RSMC Tokyo - Typhoon Center 2000. (PDF) Japan Meteorological Agency, February 2001, p. 3 , accessed on July 9, 2013 (English).
  5. ^ Tropical Storm Mekkhala. Japan Meteorological Agency, February 17, 2015, archived from the original on February 17, 2015 ; accessed on July 9, 2016 .
  6. ^ Joint Typhoon Warning Center Mission Statement. In: Joint Typhoon Warning Center. United States Navy, 2011, archived from the original on July 26, 2007 ; accessed on July 9, 2013 .
  7. ↑ JTWC 2015 best track analysis: Tropical Storm 01W: Mekkhala. (DAT) United States Joint Typhoon Warning Center, accessed August 30, 2016 .
  8. ↑ Prognostic Reasoning for Tropical Depression 01W January 13, 2015 09z. United States Joint Typhoon Warning Center, Jan. 13, 2015, archived from the original on Jan. 13, 2015 ; accessed on August 30, 2016 (English).
  9. ↑ RSMC Tropical Cyclone Advisory 140600. Japan Meteorological Agency, archived from the original on January 14, 2015 ; Retrieved January 19, 2015 .
  10. ↑ Prognostic Reasoning for Tropical Depression 01W (One) Warning Nr 04. Joint Typhoon Warning Center, archived from the original on January 14, 2015 ; Retrieved January 19, 2015 .
  11. ^ Severe Weather Bulletin Number One. PAGASA, archived from the original on January 15, 2015 ; Retrieved January 19, 2015 .
  12. ↑ Prognostic Reasoning for Tropical Storm 01W (Mekkhala) Warning No. 07. Joint Typhoon Warning Center, archived from the original on January 15, 2015 ; Retrieved January 19, 2015 .
  13. ↑ a b Prognostic Reasoning for Typhoon 01W (Mekkhala) Warning No. 14 Joint Typhoon Warning Center, archived from the original on January 17, 2015 ; Retrieved January 19, 2015 .
  14. ↑ SSMIS Microwave Imagery of Typhoon 01W (Mekkhala) at 2223Z on January 16, 2015. (JPEG) US Naval Research Laboratory, Marine Meteorology, accessed January 19, 2015 .
  15. ↑ RSMC Tropical Cyclone Advisory 170000. Japan Meteorological Agency, archived from the original on January 17, 2015 ; accessed on January 19, 2015 (English).
  16. ↑ SitRep. No. 06 re Effects of Tropical Storm "AMANG" (MEKKHALA). National Disaster Risk Reduction and Management Council, archived from the original on January 19, 2015 ; accessed on January 19, 2015 (English).
  17. ↑ RSMC Tropical Cyclone Advisory 171500. Japan Meteorological Agency, archived from the original on January 18, 2015 ; accessed on January 19, 2015 (English).
  18. ↑ RSMC Tropical Cyclone Advisory 170900. Japan Meteorological Agency, archived from the original on January 18, 2015 ; accessed on January 19, 2015 (English).
  19. ↑ Prognostic Reasoning for Tropical Storm 01W (Mekkhala) Warning No. 17. Joint Typhoon Warning Center, archived from the original on January 18, 2015 ; accessed on January 19, 2015 (English).
  20. ↑ Prognostic Reasoning for Tropical Depression 01W (Mekkhala) Warning No. 21. Joint Typhoon Warning Center, archived from the original on January 18, 2015 ; accessed on January 19, 2015 (English).
  21. ↑ Tropical Depression 01W (Mekkhala) Warning Nr 022A Amended and Relocated. Joint Typhoon Warning Center, archived from the original on January 19, 2015 ; accessed on January 19, 2015 (English).
  22. ↑ Marine Weather Warning for GMDSS Metarea XI 2015-01-21T00: 00: 00Z. Japan Meteorological Agency, accessed January 21, 2015 .
  23. ↑ Marine Weather Warning for GMDSS Metarea XI 2015-01-21T06: 00: 00Z. Japan Meteorological Agency, accessed January 21, 2015 .
  24. ^ Pacific El Nino-Southern Oscillation (ENSO) Applications Climate Center: Localsummary and forecast . In: Pacific ENSO Update . tape 21 , no. 2 , May 29, 2015, p. 7 (English, weather.gov [PDF]).
  25. ^ A b Mar S. Arguelles: Storm 'Amang' leaves 3 people dead, P318.7M in damages in Bicol. (No longer available online.) In: Philippine News Agency. Interaksyon, January 21, 2015, archived from the original on April 2, 2015 ; accessed on March 24, 2015 . Info: The archive link was inserted automatically and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. @1@ 2Template: Webachiv / IABot / www.interaksyon.com
  26. ↑ a b SitRep No. 10 re Effects of Tropical Storm "Amang" (MEKKHALA). National Disaster Risk Reduction and Management Council, January 20, 2015, archived from the original on February 6, 2015 ; accessed on January 23, 2015 .
  27. ↑ Pope offers prayers for volunteers who died after Tacloban papal Mass. GMA News, accessed on January 19, 2015 .
  28. ↑ New typhoon soaks Pope Francis' trip to storm-ravaged Philippine city. Mashable, January 16, 2015, accessed January 20, 2015 .
  29. ↑ They're all safe: Ochoa, Coloma on light plane that skidded in Tacloban. GMA News, January 17, 2015, accessed January 20, 2015 .