Last updated October 15, 2021
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Typhoon Soudelor 2015

Taiwan

Typhoon Soudelor made landfall on Taiwan’s east coast on Saturday, August 8th, 2015.[1] It was the latest of five cyclones this year to reach Category 5 status in the Western Pacific. Soudelor slammed the country at 5:00 am local time before making its final landfall in southeast China at 10:10 p.m Saturday.[1] Typhoon Soudelor’s eye had previously passed directly over the US territory of Saipan in the Northern Mariana Islands on Sunday, Aug 2nd and Monday, August 3rd.[1] It caused sufficient damage there to spur Acting Governor Ralph DLG Torres to declare a state of disaster and significant emergency.[1]

Climate change has been linked to more intense typhoon rainfall in the western Pacific.[3] A case study quantifying the effects of climate change on typhoon rainfall near Taiwan in the Northwest Pacific finds that modern-day typhoons yield more rainfall by about 5 percent.[4] Sea levels have risen eight inches globally as a result of warming, which in turn makes storm surges more destructive.[6] Global ocean warmth best explains the average increase in global tropical cyclone intensity, which one study quantifies at 1.3 meters per second over the past 30 years.[7] From 1981-2006, warming sea surface temperature (SST) trends are also correlated to increasing intensity of the strongest typhoons.[8] Human-caused increases in greenhouse gases have played a role in increasing SSTs across the Northwest Pacific typhoon formation regions throughout the 20th century.[9]

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Typhoon Soudelor. Image: NOAA