This one will go down in the record books definitely.  It is most certainly the most intense tropical cyclone in terms of wind speed EVER recorded due to its estimated 200 MPH SUSTAINED winds.  It made landfall in the central portion of the Philippines as it was intensifying to this horrific intensity.  That makes this a shoe in for the most intense landfalling tropical cyclone in recorded history.  The storm surge because of this and due to topography will be unreal.  There have been a few cyclones in the Pacific resembling Haiyan before, but I do no think anything has made landfall ever like this.  The news will be horrific, unfortunately.

 

Thread Link:  http://www.talkweather.com/forums/index.php?/topic/59729-supertyphoon-haiyan/  and http://forums.accuweather.com/index.php?showtopic=31160

 

Area of Landfall:  https://www.google.com/maps/preview?hl=en#!data=!1m4!1m3!1d1195602!2d125.7976003!3d10.7033997!2m1!1e3&fid=7

 

 

 

Structure does not get better than this

 

 

 

 

Landfall

 

 

 

 

Unbelievable...

Yeah it is incredible. I read somewhere that region had an earthquake last week too. Talk about a bad couple weeks.

I cannot think of a more natural disaster prone country than the Philippines.  Holy cow, they get more than their fair share dumped on them.

Super Saiyan!

Fuck, I would not want to be there. 

^^ this

That is one nasty storm. Best wishes to anybody caught in its path.

^^ this

Triple that. I read a news story at lunch about this yesterday and odds are its going to be very, very bad for a region already ravaged by recent natural disasters.

I can't believe us Floridians have dodged heavy hurricane seasons for this long a while... The more I look at that Philippines pic the more it sinks in how drastically life can change.

Just saw a news report, that thankfully many people got out early via evacuations.  Also, the storm moved SO fast that flooding wasn't/isn't as bad as other storms.  So fingers crossed, at least more people will be alive.  Now just to get shelter and rebuild....