01 February 2014
Super Typhoon HAIYAN (YOLANDA): Final Chase Report

I've relased the FINAL version of iCyclone's Super Typhoon HAIYAN (YOLANDA) Chase Report:

iCyclone: HAIYAN 2013

How is this different from the Preliminary version, released in November?  A few ways:

  • The event chronology has been refined and expanded after careful review of the video footage.
  • Details like lighting/thunder in the eyewall have been added.
  • There’s more discussion Re: our elevation, which we apparently verified (via follow-up research) to be 26 ft (8 m).
I'm pleased to report these data and observations have been accepted by the American Meteorological Society for a poster presentation at the 31st Conference on Hurricanes and Tropical Meteorology in San Diego this April.   Read the Abstract here: 
 
Abstract:  Super Typhoon Haiyan in Tacloban City, Philippines

Data from HAIYAN's landfall region were sparse to nonexistent—and, in fact, ours are the only complete, quality-controlled air-pressure traces we're aware of from HAIYAN's inner core. Add iCyclone's continuous, time-stamped video footage from that morning, and we have a detailed, multi-dimensional record of the storm's passage in downtown Tacloban City.

Given the truly epic nature of this event—one of the severest and most catastrophic cyclone landfalls in history—I'm proud to be able to contribute meaningfully to the postanalysis and ongoing discussion about it.

—Josh Morgerman