Typhoon Rai            

 

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Context

• Super typhoon Rai is battering the southern Philippines, forcing thousands of people to take shelter amid warnings of widespread flooding and destruction.
• The storm made landfall in Siargao, a popular tourist island, packing winds of about 175km/h.

 

Details

• Typhoon Rai, known in the Philippines as Typhoon Odette, is currently a powerful tropical cyclone over the South China Sea which recently passed through the Philippines.
• Rai became the third Category 5 super typhoon to form in South China Sea after Pamela of 1954 and Rammasun of 2014.

 

Tropical Storms

• Hurricanes, cyclones and typhoons are all types of tropical storms. But are given different names depending on where they appear.
• Hurricanes are tropical storms that form over the North Atlantic Ocean and Northeast Pacific.
• Cyclones are formed over the South Pacific and Indian Ocean.
• Typhoons are formed over the Northwest Pacific Ocean.

 

Favorable Conditions for Tropical Cyclone Formation

• Large sea surface with temperature higher than 27° C,
• Presence of the Coriolis force enough to create a cyclonic vortex,
• Small variations in the vertical wind speed,
• A pre-existing weak low-pressure area or low-level-cyclonic circulation,
• Upper divergence above the sea level system,

https://newsonair.gov.in/News?title=Typhoon-Rai-hits-southern-Philippines%2c-thousands-of-people-evacuated&id=431690