Super Typhoon Koppu Could Hit Philippines as a Cat 5-Jeff Masters

Good effin' grief - the Phillippines don't need another super typhoon

http://www.wunderground.com/blog/JeffMasters/comment.html?entrynum=3157
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Intensifying Super Typhoon Koppu is pounding the Philippines' eastern Luzon Island with torrential rains as the storm crawls west-northwest at 6 mph. Koppu (called "Lando" locally in the Philippines) could achieve Category 5 status before making landfall between 2 - 6 pm EDT Saturday. At 8 am EDT Saturday, the Joint Typhoon Warning Center estimated Koppu was a Category 4 super typhoon with top winds of 150 mph, and the Japan Meteorological Agency estimated a central pressure of 930 mb. According to wunderblogger Dr. Phil Klotzbach, Koppu is the nineteenth Category 4 or 5 tropical cyclone this year in the Northern Hemisphere, setting a new record for these most powerful of storms. The previous record was eighteen such storms in 2004. Satellite loops on Saturday morning showed that Koppu had an impressive ring of eyewall clouds with very cold cloud tops that extended high into the atmosphere, and a prominent 23-mile diameter eye. The combination of low wind shear, warm ocean waters that extend to great depth and the presence of two impressive upper level outflow channels will support continued intensification right up until landfall. Extreme winds, a large storm surge, and heavy rains are all major threats from Koppu, but it is the storm's rains that will cause most of the storm's destruction. Recent satellite estimates showed Koppu's maximum rainfall rate was likely 20 inches of rain per 24 hours.

The top five most expensive disasters in Philippines history, according to EM-DAT (dollar values unadjusted for inflation):

1) Super Typhoon Haiyan, 11/8/2013, $10 billion
2) Monsoon rains increased by Tropical Storm Trami, 8/20/2013, $2.19 billion
3) Super Typhoon Bopha, 12/4/2012, $898 million
4) Super Typhoon Rammasun, 7/15/2014, $821 million
5) Tropical Storm Nina, 9/4/1995, $700 million
Note- four of the top five have been in the past three years

Get out of harm's way folks