Typhoon Nesat (2011)

Typhoon Nesat (Pedring)

Typhoon (JMA scale)
Category 4 (Saffir–Simpson scale)
Typhoon Nesat as a category 2 typhoon, approaching the Philippines on September 26
Formed	September 23, 2011
Dissipated	September 30, 2011
Highest winds	10-minute sustained: 150 km/h (90 mph) 1-minute sustained: 215 km/h (130 mph)
Lowest pressure	950 hPa (mbar); 28.05 inHg
Fatalities	95 total
Damage	$1.24 billion (2011 USD)
Areas affected	Philippines, China, Hong Kong, Macau, Vietnam
Part of the 2011 Pacific typhoon season

Typhoon Nesat, known in the Philippines as Typhoon Pedring, was the most powerful tropical cyclone to directly impact China since 2005. It also struck the Philippines during the 2011 Pacific typhoon season, killing 83 people. It is the 17th named storm, the 11th severe tropical storm, the 7th typhoon and overall, the 30th tropical cyclone to be monitored by the Japan Meteorological Agency(JMA) during the year. Nesat came exactly two years after Typhoon Ketsana made landfall in the Philippines as the most devastating typhoon in the 2009 Pacific typhoon season with a damage of US$1.09 billion and 747 fatalities. Nesat was also the first of twin tropical cyclones to batter the Philippines within one week during September 2011, the second was Nalgae.

The low pressure area that was to become Nesat developed on the evening of September 21, to the east-southeast of Palau. The Joint Typhoon Warning Center (JTWC) originally anticipated Nesat would become a Category 5 super typhoon on the Saffir–Simpson Hurricane Scale (SSHS) with winds exceeding 130 knots (240 km/h; 150 mph) (1-min sustained). However, because of a cold anomaly, the system only reached a maximum 1-min sustained wind speed of 115 knots (215 km/h; 135 mph) making it a powerful Category 4 typhoon. Nesat made landfall over the Luzon region of the Philippines and the maximum 1-min sustained winds dropped to 95 knots (176 km/h; 109 mph). The system continued to weaken with convective banding loosely wrapped into the partially exposed low-level circulation center(LLCC). The winds continued to drop and eventually reached 65 knots (120 km/h; 75 mph) (1-min sustained) which made it a minimal typhoon on the SSHS. On September 29, by the time Nesat managed to re-develop a 10 nautical miles (19 km; 12 mi) ragged eye, it made landfall over Wenchang in Hainan, China and started weakening again. Due to the rapid weakening, the JTWC ceased advisories on the storm, soon afterwards. Later that evening, the JMA downgraded Nesat to a tropical low over land and issued their final warning on the system.