Wow - Typhoon "Megi" (10/17)

The true violence of a tropical cyclone at maximum intensity is a sight to behold when typhoon "Megi" affected the Phillipines and China a half a world away from the US in the western Pacific basin in mid October 2010. Typhoons are the same systems as hurricanes, just the name if different in that part of the world.



In the image above, typhoon "Megi" reaches maximum intensity as it bears down on the NE coast of the Philippines (Luzon), with insane core winds exceeding 180 MPH with higher gusts. Chasing something like this is like driving into an EF-5 tornado that's 40 miles wide! A handful of chasers intercepted the storm, including James Reynolds (Hong Kong) and Geoff Mackley (Australia). Fortunatly, the landfall area near Davilican Bay was rural and mountainous. This made it hard for any intercepts of the typhoon core there.