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🔆 Typhoon Ragasa: The Year’s Strongest Storm
📍 About Typhoon Ragasa
✅ Super Typhoon Ragasa, locally known as “Nando,” is one of the most powerful tropical cyclones of 2024.
✅ It affected Luzon (Philippines), Taiwan, South China, Hong Kong, Macau, and Vietnam, before weakening into a tropical depression over northeastern Vietnam.
✅ It formed over the warm waters of the western Pacific, moving through the Luzon Strait toward southern China.
✅ Classified as a Category 5 super typhoon, Ragasa recorded sustained winds of 280 km/h, nearing the maximum intensity possible for storms on Earth.
📍 Why Was Ragasa So Intense?
✅ Rising global temperatures have made tropical cyclones more powerful, with the Pacific Ocean warming by 1.5°C in the past century.
✅ Storms in Southeast Asia are forming closer to coastlines, intensifying faster, and lasting longer.
✅ Warm ocean waters and a track over open seas helped Ragasa maintain its strength without losing energy over land.
📍 About Super Typhoons
✅ Super typhoons are powerful Pacific tropical cyclones with sustained winds above 150 mph (240 km/h).
✅ They form from tropical disturbances over warm ocean waters with low wind shear.
✅ Common in the Western Pacific, near China, Japan, and the Philippines.
📍 About Tropical Cyclones
✅ A tropical cyclone is a warm-core low-pressure system forming over tropical or subtropical waters with an organized circulation.
✅ The storm’s “dirty side” (right side in the Northern Hemisphere) is usually more destructive due to stronger combined winds.
✅ Formation Process:
1️⃣ Warm, moist air rises over the ocean, creating a low-pressure zone.
2️⃣ Surrounding air rushes in, also warming and rising.
3️⃣ Condensation forms clouds and thunderstorms, releasing heat.
4️⃣ The storm system strengthens using the ocean’s heat and moisture.
📍 Saffir-Simpson Hurricane Wind Scale
• Category 1: 74–95 mph – Minimal damage
• Category 2: 96–110 mph – Moderate damage
• Category 3: 111–129 mph – Major hurricane
• Category 4: 130–156 mph – Catastrophic damage
• Category 5: ≥157 mph – Devastating damage
📍 Classification of Tropical Systems
✅ Tropical Depression: Winds <63 km/h
✅ Tropical Storm: Winds 63–118 km/h
✅ Hurricane/Typhoon/Cyclone: Winds ≥119 km/h
📍 Current Status (2024)
🌧️ Ragasa has weakened to a tropical depression over northeastern Vietnam, but continues to bring heavy rainfall to northern provinces.
#TyphoonRagasa #ClimateChange
#Geography
BY UPSC Mapping Prelims Mains
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