It is an unusual phenomenon. The Japan Meteorological Agency reported it was the first time it has happened since records began in 1951. The four typhoons aligned over the Pacific are a rare weather event.
Never have so many storms coexisted in the Pacific basin. The typhoon season there extends throughout the year. But most storms form between May and October. Three storms usually form in November. And one of them becomes a super typhoon, according to the average for the period 1991-2000, NASA reports.
Super typhoons
On November 11, NASA’s EPIC imaging sensor detected the storms, named Yinxing, Toraji, Usagi and Man-Yi. The storms were approaching the Philippines or had already passed over the islands and surrounding areas.
Shortly before the image was acquired, Typhoon Toraji (known locally as Nika) made landfall on the northeastern side of the main Philippine island of Luzon. The storm unleashed flooding and caused power outages. Rain-induced landslides buried roads in the mountain range. The storm reached its maximum intensity the night before, with sustained winds of 130 kilometers per hour.
To the west, Typhoon Yinxing (known as Marce) hit the Philippines on November 7, four days before this image. Upon landfall, the storm had sustained winds of 150 miles per hour. This turned it into a super typhoon. The storm weakened before hitting Vietnam and dissipating on November 12.
Philippines hit
Typhoon Usagi (known as Ofel) is expected to become the 15th tropical cyclone to hit the Philippine archipelago this year. It was a tropical storm that then rapidly intensified into a super typhoon. At 18:00 UTC on November 13, Usagi had winds of around 240 kilometers per hour. It is equivalent to a Category 4 hurricane. It was forecast to hit the islands later that day.
To the east, Man-Yi was a tropical storm with sustained winds of 85 kilometers per hour at the time of this image. It would make landfall in the Philippines on November 17. This country bore the brunt of typhoon activity in the Pacific this year. They caused deadly flooding and landslides in Luzon in late October. And the four typhoons lined up over the Pacific do not seem to help this improve.
