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Pabuk 1st Jan-Mar Tropical Storm To Hit Thailand Since 1951; Unusual Storm Activity E. Pacific
Above: Thai residents wade through floodwaters from Tropical Storm Pabuk on Friday, January 4, 2019, in Pak Phanang, in the southern province of Nakhon Si Thammarat, southern Thailand. Rain, winds, and surging seawater struck southern Thailand as Pabuk approached coastal villages and popular tourist resorts. Image credit: AP Photo/Thanis Sudto.
The world’s tropics are kicking off 2019 with an impressive spate of activity. The developments include Thailand’s first tropical cyclone on record so early in the year, two named systems in the Southwest Pacific, and the potential for an oddly out-of-season tropical cyclone in the Northeast Pacific.
The highest-impact system on Friday was Tropical Storm Pabuk, which brought heavy rains and high winds to southern Thailand in the midst of the dry season. Pabuk made landfall near Pak Phanang, about 370 miles south of Bangkok, around 12:45 pm Friday local time (12:30 am EST), according to the Thai Meteorological Department. Top sustained winds were around 60 mph, according to the Joint Typhoon Warning Center. Pabuk was moving off the west coast of Thailand early Saturday local time.
Figure 1. Waves from Tropical Storm Pabuk crash into a pier in the southern Thai province of Surat Thani on Friday, January 4, 2019. Image credit: Lillian Suwanrumpha/AFP/Getty Images.
EDIT
Pabuk is the first tropical storm to strike Thailand during January, February, or March in records going back to 1951. Even during the mid-year wet season, Thailand’s coastal geography and its very low latitude keeps the number of powerful tropical cyclones on the modest side. Since 1891, only one hurricane-strength cyclone has made landfall in Thailand. That was Typhoon Gay, a compact, fast-strengthening system that struck the east coast in Chumpon Province at Category 3 strength (115-mph sustained winds). Gay caused an estimated 833 deaths and roughly $500 million USD in damage.
Pabuk is predicted by the Joint Typhoon Warning Center to move into the Andaman Sea on Saturday. It could strike the Andaman Islands at tropical-storm strength on Sunday night before weakening as it arcs north and northeast toward Myanmar.
EDIT
https://www.wunderground.com/cat6/Pabuk-Slams-Thailand-Watching-Unusual-Setup-Northeast-Pacific?cm_ven=cat6-widget
