While the 2014 Atlantic hurricane season was quiet relative to recent years, the western Pacific’s has been long and busy, producing 22 named storms since January (typhoon season typically runs from May to October). The video above shows a 3-D cutaway of the latest storm, Super Typhoon Hagiput, as it approached the Philippines on December 5.
The video doesn’t just show the storm’s structure—the green-to-red gradient measures the volume of moisture in its clouds (with red being the wettest). Cloud moisture is important, because it tells scientists how much energy is in a given storm, and lets weather agencies know how much rain to anticipate.
Produced by NASA, this graphic combines data from two satellite-borne sensors: A microwave imager scans through the clouds, adding up all the precipitation it encounters into the total moisture density for a given area; and dual-frequency radar pings all the water droplets in the clouds, creating the 3-D image of the storm's structure. Launched in February of this year, the Global Precipitation Measurement satellite is jointly operated by the Japanese Aerospace Exploration Agency and NASA.
Super Typhoon Hagupit made landfall in the Philippines (the island nation’s weather service named the storm Ruby) on December 6, with maximum sustained winds of 175 mph (Hurricane Katrina hit at 125 mph). In its wake, it left at least 27 people dead, and tens of thousands of homes destroyed or in need of major repairs. Here’s a list of relief agencies working in the area if you’re interested in helping out.
With winds of less than 70 mph, the now demoted Tropical Depression Hagupit is headed towards Vietnam, where it’s expected to make landfall sometime between Dec. 15 and 16.
