Typhoon Bopha
Typhoon Bopha, named Pablo by PAGASA, was a compact but powerful and catastrophic tropical cyclone that became the strongest on record to ever affect the Philippine island of Mindanao, making landfall as a Category 5 super typhoon with winds of. The twenty-fourth tropical storm, along with being the fourth and final super typhoon of the 2012 Pacific typhoon season, Bopha originated unusually close to the equator, becoming the second-most southerly Category 5 super typhoon, reaching a minimum latitude of 7.4°N on December 3, 2012, as only Typhoon Louise of 1964 came closer to the equator at this strength, at 7.3°N. After first making landfall in Palau, where it destroyed houses, disrupted communications and caused power outages, flooding and uprooted trees, Bopha made landfall late on December 3 in Mindanao. The storm caused widespread destruction on Mindanao, leaving thousands of people homeless and killing 1,901 people.
After hitting Davao Oriental and Davao de Oro provinces, Bopha shifted through the southern and central regions of Mindanao, cutting power to two provinces and triggering landslides. More than 170,000 people fled to evacuation centers, as the system moved to the South China Sea west of the Palawan island province, eventually dissipating on December 9.
Meteorological history
On November 23, the United States Joint Typhoon Warning Center reported that a tropical disturbance had persisted, about to the south of Pohnpei in the Federated States of Micronesia. At the time, bands of atmospheric convection were flaring around the disturbances poorly defined low-level circulation centre, while the system was located in an area of moderate vertical windshear with sea-surface temperatures of. Over the next couple of days, the system's low-level circulation centre slowly consolidated further and came under the influence of a developing anticyclone, which allowed vertical windshear to become more favourable for tropical cyclogenesis. On November 25, the JTWC and the Japan Meteorological Agency reported that disturbance had developed into a tropical depression, with the former classifying it as Tropical Depression 26W. At this time the system was located about to the southeast of Chuuk State and was moving towards the west-northwest, along the southern edge of a subtropical ridge of high pressure that was located to the south of Japan.On November 26, the movement became nearly stationary as the center organized further. Later that day, the JMA upgraded the depression to Tropical Storm Bopha , and early on November 27 the JTWC followed suit after a strong burst of thunderstorms over the center. Its westward motion increased on November 28, later becoming west-southwestward. The convection gradually became better organized and wrapped into the center, indicative of a strengthening storm. However, early on November 29 the appearance degraded, with the thunderstorms limited to the southern periphery due to reduced outflow to the south. The circulation became exposed, and the JTWC noted that Bopha was unable to intensify significantly due to its low latitude and correspondingly low Coriolis effect. Late on November 29, convection increased, aided by warm waters and low wind shear. At 00:00 UTC on November 30, the JMA upgraded Bopha to a severe tropical storm. A few hours later, the JTWC upgraded the storm to a typhoon, and the JMA followed suit at 18:00 UTC that day. At that time, Bopha was located about 980 km east-southeast of Palau.
As the system continued to intensify, organized bands of thunderstorms began to develop rapidly around the system, mostly on the western half of the storm. They later merged with Bopha, which led to the system's increase in size. Several hot towers also began to rise up near the low level circulation center, with one of the hot towers reaching into the atmosphere. At around the same time, on November 30, a ragged, eye-like feature appeared in microwave imagery, which later transitioned into a pinhole eye by December 1.
Early on December 3, due to the eye wall replacement cycle, the system weakened slightly into a Category 3 typhoon; however, a few hours later, as the eyewall replacement cycle ended, Bopha reintensified into a Category 4 typhoon, while the eye became well-defined again. Late on December 3, as the system continued to strengthen, the system rapidly intensified into a Category 5 super typhoon, deepening to an unofficial pressure of 918 mbar as stated by the JTWC at peak intensity,
At 20:45 UTC on December 3, Bopha made landfall over Baganga, Davao Oriental, as a Category 5 super typhoon, and the eye dissipated just an hour after landfall. Bopha began to weaken, with convection on the eastern side of the storm decreasing as it moved through the Sulu Sea. It made landfall on the island of Palawan on December 5, before briefly weakening to a tropical storm on December 6.
Late on December 7, Bopha's central dense overcast started to increase slightly, and the typhoon rapidly intensified from a Category 1 to a Category 4 typhoon in only six hours. Upon reintesifying, Bopha developed a well-defined eye that had deep convection near the center of the storm. On December 8, the system started to weaken due to increasing moderate wind shear. Late on December 8 into December 9, Bopha weakened rapidly from a typhoon to a tropical storm, with its convection being blown to the northeast by wind shear, exposing the low level circulation center. The remaining thin convection in the center consisted of few convective thunderstorms associated with stratocumulus clouds.
Preparations
Caroline Islands
As Bopha was organizing, the National Weather Service in Guam issued a tropical storm watch for the FSM islands of Nukuoro and Lukunor. The watch was upgraded to a tropical storm warning on November 26, and the watch was expanded to include Losap and Chuuk Lagoon. As Bopha moved westward, the office also issued a tropical storm watch for Poluwat, and Satawal, both of which were upgraded to warnings, and a typhoon watch was issued for Woleai.The Palau National Emergency Management Office issued an announcement on November 29 requesting the public to stock up with emergency supplies such as food and water for three days, portable radios with spare batteries, flashlights, and first-aid kits. The citizens of Palau were also advised to secure loose objects that might be lifted up by the strong winds, board up windows, trim tree branches that could fall and damage homes, fill up vehicles with gas, secure boats and assist their communities in preparing.