“In the documented history of meteorology in our country, this is perhaps the most dramatic storm,” said Dr. Bui Minh Tang, Director of the Northern Delta Meteorological Center.
Update on Storm No. 8 in 2016: Super Typhoon Haima gusts over level 17, rapidly moving towards the East Sea
Update on Storm No. 7 in 2016: Storm No. 7 enters Quang Ninh, Hanoi prepares for gusts
Meteorological experts unanimously agree that Storm No. 8, which just made landfall in Vietnam and is named Kai-Tak after an old airport in Hong Kong, is the most unusual storm ever recorded.
The meteorologist responsible for the weather program on CNN exclaimed on November 2: “This storm has a truly bizarre path and development.”
Initially forming in the East Sea as a tropical depression on the morning of October 28 with only a strength of level 6 or 7, there was nothing unusual about it. Just one day later, it began to act up. For the first time in documented history, right in the East Sea, it surged to level 12 within two days instead of the usual 3-4 days. By midday on October 29, wind strength had risen to level 10. By early afternoon on October 31, it increased to level 12, gusting above level 12.
Images taken from the Moderate Resolution Imaging Spectroradiometer (MODIS) on the Terra satellite show that Storm No. 8 of Vietnam, and the 22nd in the Northwest Pacific, reached wind speeds of 140 km/h near its center, exceeding level 12, at 10:10 AM on October 31 (see image).
Typically, storms moving towards the west-northwest maintain a stable and rapid course towards the shore. However, Storm No. 8 disrupted all of this,” said Dr. Nguyen Lan Chau, Deputy Director of the Central Meteorological Center.
“230 km off the coast of Quang Ngai, we thought the storm would make landfall here. For some reason, it abruptly changed direction towards Da Nang,” Dr. Chau recalled, “We thought it would hit Quang Nam or Da Nang, but the storm veered along the coastline instead.”
Another point of particular interest to scientists is that strong storms usually move quickly. Yet Storm No. 8 did the opposite. The stronger it became, the slower its movement. On average, this storm only moved at 5-10 km/h, at times appearing almost stationary. “Very few strong storms move this slowly,” Mr. Thao expressed his astonishment.
Between October 28 and 29, a cold northeastern monsoon appeared and affected the Northern Delta, North Central, and Central Coast regions. This monsoon caused temperatures to drop by 4-5 degrees Celsius. Normally, the storm’s intensity should have decreased when interacting with such cold wind masses. However, it behaved contrary to expectations. By the time it weakened, it unexpectedly moved quickly, deteriorating from level 12 to a tropical depression in just 24 hours in a perplexing manner.
Most meteorological experts were also astonished to observe that the storm’s path along the coastline closely matched the shape of our country’s coastline. According to engineer Thao, “Storm No. 8 is a fascinating phenomenon, worthy of being classified as the most extraordinary since 1950.”
In 1986, Storm No. 5 appeared in the East Sea, moving close to the shore before turning back, entering and exiting the East Sea three times, creating an incredibly complex path.
In 1995, there was a storm that moved parallel to the coastline, but at a considerable distance from the shore (this year’s Storm No. 8 also moved parallel to the coastline but was much closer), making landfall in Guangxi, China, and causing rain for 13 provinces in China.
