> From the WeatherWatch archives
As of this writing, a monster super typhoon is roaming the western Pacific ocean – it’s name is Nida.
On Wednesday afternoon, Super Typhoon Nida had maximum sustained winds of 275km/h with gusts exceeding 320km/h.
Interactive map: Animating satellite of Nida
Super typhoons are category five’s on the Saffir-Simpson scale.
Thankfully, Nida is not threatening any landmasses directly at this time. It is located about 155 miles west-southwest of Guam. It is more than 2200kms east-southeast of Manila, Philippines.
Because of the very favorable environment, Nida could grow even stronger in strength in the next day or so.
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Before you add a new comment, take note this story was published on 25 Nov 2009.
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Paul Owen on 26/11/2009 12:19am
Is this usual season for Typhoons and what path is Nida following?
Reply
WW Forecast Team on 26/11/2009 2:40am
Typhoons don’t actually have a season.
This is from the NOAA website: "The Northwest Pacific basin has tropical cyclones occurring all year round regularly. There is no official definition of typhoon season for this reason. There is a distinct minimum in February and the first half of March, and the main season goes from July to November with a peak in late August/early September".
Here’s a map of Nida’s path
WeatherWatch
Reply
CHDAVIS-NZ on 25/11/2009 11:39pm
Could NZ ever be threatened by a super typhoon of this size? and if not… why? – take care.
Reply
WW Forecast Team on 26/11/2009 2:42am
No, it’s very unlikely as we’re too far south to be hit by a tropical cyclone of this size. Typhoons are enormous – plenty of open water, warm currents and no land – only tiny islands. Down our way we have Australia blocking the path/or development of storms to our north west.
However we can have a ‘perfect storm’ type scenario, like the Wahine Disaster – a sub-tropical storm meeting a southern storm and combining over NZ. Winds gusted close to 300km/h in Wellington that day, similar speeds to Nida however these gusts were confined to one suburb of Wellington.
Cheers
Phil
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CHDAVIS-NZ on 25/11/2009 11:33pm
All in one breath… robust respect… *smiles*
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