Typhoon Tip

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Typhoon Tip
Category 5 super typhoon (SSHS)
Typhoon Tip at record intensity on October 13, 1979

Typhoon Tip at record intensity on October 13, 1979
Formed October 4, 1979
Dissipated October 19, 1979
Highest
winds
260 km/h (160 mph) (10-minute sustained)
310 km/h [1] (190 mph) (1-minute sustained)
Lowest pressure 870 hPa (mbar) (Lowest sea-level pressure ever recorded)
Damage Unknown
Fatalities 68 direct
Areas
affected
Japan
Part of the
1979 Pacific typhoon season

Typhoon Tip was the largest and most intense tropical cyclone on record. The storm weakened greatly before landfall, but still caused widespread flood damage across most of Japan during the 1979 Pacific typhoon season. Tip is sometimes regarded as the first known super typhoon.

Contents

[edit] Storm history

Storm path
Enlarge
Storm path

The cyclone formed in the northwestern Pacific Ocean on October 4, 1979 as a tropical depression. It strengthened to tropical storm status, the 20th of the season, on October 6, and became a typhoon on October 9. After moving into a very favorable environment for development, Typhoon Tip quickly strengthened and its pressure dropped from 996 to 898 hPa (mbar). It was during this time that Tip reached its peak in size, with tropical storm force winds extending 1,085km (675 miles) in radius. On October 12, Typhoon Tip continued to intensify, with winds at 258 km/h (161 mph) at 0600 GMT and central pressure at 870 hPa (mbar).

Typhoon Tip as a Category 4
Enlarge
Typhoon Tip as a Category 4

After reaching its peak on October 12, Tip slowly weakened as it headed toward Japan. It made landfall on Honshū on October 19 as a minimal typhoon.

[edit] Impact

Tip caused significant damage in Japan. It cost the agricultural and fishing industries of Japan millions of dollars in damage. Tip killed 68, many due to floods that breached a fuel retaining wall in Camp Fuji.

[edit] Records

The relative sizes of the United States, Typhoon Tip and Cyclone Tracy (the largest and smallest tropical cyclones recorded)
The relative sizes of the United States, Typhoon Tip and Cyclone Tracy (the largest and smallest tropical cyclones recorded)

Typhoon Tip was massive. It was the largest and most intense tropical cyclone ever observed.

At its peak size, Tip sustained tropical storm-force winds at a radius of 675 miles (1,087km). [2] With a minimum central pressure of 870 hPa (mbar) , Tip is also the most intense tropical cyclone ever recorded in any basin and holds the record for lowest pressure ever recorded at Earth's surface. Note, however, that since the 1990s, hurricane hunter flights are no longer made into NW Pacific typhoons, and storm intensity is now estimated from satellite imagery.

[edit] External links

[edit] References


The most powerful tropical cyclones by area of development or impact

Australia

Central Pacific

East Pacific

North Atlantic

North Indian

South Indian

South Pacific

West Pacific

Cyclone Inigo (2003)

Hurricane Ioke (2006)

Hurricane Linda (1997)

Hurricane Wilma (2005)

Cyclone 05B (1999)

Cyclone Gafilo (2004)

Cyclone Zoe (2002)

Typhoon Tip (1979)

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