Typhoon Nepartak 2016
Beginning July 4, 2016, tropical cyclone Nepartak rapidly intensified, over the course of just 24 hours, from a 70 mph storm to a Category 4 super typhoon with 150 mph winds, peaking as a Category 5 storm with 1-minute sustained winds of 173 mph on July 6. Nepartak struck Taiwan early July 8, local time, as a violent typhoon. The eye of the storm passed over Taiwan late on July 8. The storm then hit eastern China, forcing the relocation of over 400,000. By July 10, Nepartak had dissipated over China. The rapid intensification of Nepartak was driven by favorable climate conditions, including passage over unusually warm seas with some of the highest oceanic heat content readings observed in conjunction with a tropical cyclone. There is a documented increase in the intensity of the strongest storms in several ocean basins in recent decades, including the Pacific Northwest. And warming seas are offering more energy to passing storms. Scientists are working to understand the relation between these two trends. Extreme rainfall over Taiwan and China was intense, aided in part by a warmer atmosphere, with total rainfall in some areas reaching well above 1 foot early in the storms landing in Taiwan. Ten inches of rain fell in just 4 hours in some locations in China early on July 9. Along coastlines, the reach of Nepartak's storm surge was extended by sea levels elevated by global warming.