Typhoon Maria Slams Into China and Beyond

(credit: UW-Madison CIMSS)

DISCUSSION: During the course of the day on Tuesday (07/10/2018), Typhoon Maria (which was previously Super Typhoon Maria) made its final approach to eastern China.  In the process of doing so, Typhoon Maria became yet another strong typhoon hit impact both coastal and parts of mainland China in recent years. It is worth noting that this is not by any means an uncommon occurrence for China as many typhoons have impacted various parts of China over the past several decades. Having said that, there is question that every tropical storm is unique in some way and Typhoon Maria is certainly no exception.

First off, with Typhoon Maria being as large of a storm as it is and has been, there is no debate that there has been a large wind field associated with Maria for a good portion of its lifetime up to this point.  In addition, a large wind field also induces much larger and more widespread wave action and persistent ocean swells which ultimately batter coastlines and cause tremendous beach erosion.  Moreover, such situations often cause tremendous coastal flooding due to the impacts from a tropical cyclone’s storm surge.  Furthermore, the larger size of the storm also leads to their naturally being a larger rain shield associated with both the inner and outer parts of the tropical cyclone which leads to more widespread flooding and even flash flooding issues.

There is also the fact to consider for how a good portion of central and some parts of eastern China also is quite mountainous. Thus, even as this powerful tropical cyclone continues to gradually weaken as it moves further inland with time, there will continue to be heavy rainfall across a large area and especially across areas with more elevated terrain. Hence, as heavier rainfall falls across areas with more elevated terrain, there will be plenty of rainfall funneling down into areas positioned at a lower terrain height and consequently inducing valley flooding conditions.

To learn more about other high-impact weather events occurring across the Indian Ocean and Asia, be sure to click here!

© 2018 Meteorologist Jordan Rabinowitz