The rapid escalation, which made Tropical Storm Rai the Philippines’ worst storm this year, has exceeded expectations, killing nearly 400 people and displacing nearly one million.
Before rapidly intensifying it, forecasters initially warned of a storm that could do “considerable damage” with winds up to 165 mph.
“But things have changed very quickly,” Nikos Peñaranda, a meteorologist who studies thunderstorms with the Philippines “national weather bureau, said Tuesday.
As storms intensify faster, warm seawater and the different wind speeds near the storm’s eye act as fuel to propel it to a larger event.
In the case of Rai, the storm has morphed into a category 5 super-taifun, with speeds that resemble those of a passenger plane taking off from the ground.
As the plane neared land winds of up to 210 miles an hour rooted out palms, toppled poles and hurled sheet metal and wooden slabs through the air.
In the absence of real-time data and case studies of similar storms in the region, forecasters struggle to predict the intensification of Rai, or Odette, as the Storm is called locally.
“The challenge in forecasting rapidly intensifying events is just that the speed with which this occurs, often in a matter of hours, leaves less time for disaster risk reduction mobilisation and evacuations,” said Clare Nullis, a media officer at the Meteorological Department in Washington.
"There are limited available data, and no peer-reviewed evidence, on vaccine efficacy or effectiveness to date for omicron," Union health minister @mansukhmandviya said in a written reply. https://t.co/bHOvL6iMjA
— The Wire Science (@TheWireScience) December 22, 2021
New studies that show the potential for the Arctic to transition from a snow-dominated to a rain-dominated system in summer and autumn by the time global temperatures rise by 1.5º C above pre-industrial times.
The world has already warmed by 1.2º C. https://t.co/CMunq8sUdt
— The Wire Science (@TheWireScience) December 22, 2021
A jury found Harvard University chemist Charles Lieber guilty of lying to the US government about taking research money from China.
Lieber's case offers a lesson about the fake science-politics divide, @1amnerd writes. https://t.co/4HotlACD3q
— The Wire Science (@TheWireScience) December 22, 2021
There are very few Indians living today whose DNA matches that of a person who lived in Rakhigarhi around 4,600 years ago – much less that of anyone who lived 40,000 years ago. https://t.co/soSLBnkkYB | @tjoseph0010
— The Wire Science (@TheWireScience) December 22, 2021
Some news outlets reported last week that stray dogs in Majalgaon had mauled a monkey infant to death, and the monkeys had hit back by launching a canine massacre.
But did this really happen? @aathiperinchery found out. https://t.co/vEwjm59V1g
— The Wire Science (@TheWireScience) December 22, 2021
The Supreme Court's Char Dham highway verdict on Dec 14 granted the defence ministry the leeway to do something the ministry hadn't even asked for. https://t.co/vAZIPQchv5 | @Upadhyay_Cavita
— The Wire Science (@TheWireScience) December 21, 2021
Two hundred cases of the omicron variant have been detected across 12 states and UTs in India so far, of which 77 patients have recovered or migrated, the Union health ministry said on Dec 21.https://t.co/JQUoiGRpZe
— The Wire Science (@TheWireScience) December 21, 2021
Researchers found that there has been a considerable shift in the sex ratios of children born in movies: 74% of children born in movies in 1950-1969 were male – versus 55% in movies released in 2000-2020. https://t.co/S2VRZsPT5r | @queersprings
— The Wire Science (@TheWireScience) December 21, 2021
The process of updating names is expected to be a tedious process, but it also has to be thorough or it could cause a lot of confusion later. Then again, the confusion may have already begun. | @aathiperinchery https://t.co/ta8tE04SCg
— The Wire Science (@TheWireScience) December 21, 2021
Sitabhra Sinha, who estimated these values, cautioned that the numbers couldn’t be linked to the omicron variant because there are currently too few cases of the latter. | @Banjotkaur https://t.co/FkdX82q7Vv
— The Wire Science (@TheWireScience) December 21, 2021
Machines are competent at punnery – even if mastery is elusive – yet stumble on irony.https://t.co/EXAtzB0wIh
— The Wire Science (@TheWireScience) December 21, 2021
“…with the help of my family, friends and support network, I channel the scientist in me to observe myself, take note of behaviours that don’t make sense, design solutions to stop them and find the inner strength to keep going.” | @SahanaSitaramanhttps://t.co/ONf7zrdDWE
— The Wire Science (@TheWireScience) December 21, 2021
Dr Kumar wrote in his letter that doctors at mohalla clinics had irrationally prescribed dextromethorphan to these children and that that was the cause of their deaths.https://t.co/gZ4rAzuMwd
— The Wire Science (@TheWireScience) December 21, 2021
On December 16, Union environment minister Bhupendra Yadav introduced the Biological Diversity Amendment Bill 2021 in the Lok Sabha.
However, parts of the Bill seem to favour AYUSH medicine practitioners. | @aathiperincheryhttps://t.co/jOpDsdLi3U
— The Wire Science (@TheWireScience) December 21, 2021
What does living with the virus imply? It means evaluating our mitigation strategies to ensure they are effective, proportionate, appropriate and sustainable.https://t.co/qSbzaSrxV9
— The Wire Science (@TheWireScience) December 20, 2021
