crosspost: Hurricane Ioke: First Cat5 Hurricane ever in the Pacific

[bananas]

Threads in the Lounge and GD last night:

Hurricane Ioke: First Cat5 Hurricane ever in the Pacific
http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=view_all&address=105x5565270

Forget Ernesto, meet Super Typhoon Ioke
http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=view_all&address=364x2002970

[SteppingRazor]

1. That's an inaccurate headline...

Not by far is it the first Cat 5 in the Pacific.

It is the most powerful Cat 5 to ever form in the Central Pacific.

On edit: for trivia's sake, the most powerful cyclone ever was Supertyphoon Tip in 1979, which dropped down to a ridiculous 870 millibars with speeds of 190 mph -- it formed in the North Pacific. It was also the largest ever, 1,350 miles wide at its peak. Happiily, it weakened greatly before striking Japan. The most powerful winds ever recorded at landfall, though, were in Hurricane Camille in 1969.

[greenman3610]

4. Australia had 2 Cat 5s hit last spring

http://www.phschool.com/science/planetdiary/archive06/cycl1042906.html
Category 5 Cyclone Smacks Australia (April 26, 2006)

Satellite view of Cyclone Monica menacing northern Australia. Australian Bureau of Meteorology.
Cyclone Monica, a powerful maximum Category 5 storm, slammed the northern coast of Australia this week packing fierce winds of up to 200 miles per hour (320 kilometers/hour).

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http://www.weathermatrix.net/phpBB2/viewtopic.php?t=2644&

Posted: Sun Mar 19, 2006 4:15 pm
Post subject: Category 5 Tropical Cyclone Larry, Nth Queensland, Australia
It is now early morning in eastern Australia as we wake to the news
that TC Larry continued to intensify overnight and has reached
Category 5.

At last report Larry was 50 km (30 miles) east of the sugar town
of Innisfail and was continuing to move west at 25 kph (15.5 mph).

Larry is expected to cross the coast near Innisfail in the next
few hours, with maximum wind gusts up to 290 kph (180 mph), and
destructive winds extending 120 km (75 miles) from the core.
Storm surges in excess of 4m (13 ft) are expected.

[soothsayer]

2. They're called typhoons over thar

[kestrel91316]

3. What about Hurricane Iniki? Hit Kauai about 10 years back?