Philippines: The News Keeps Getting Worse

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That is the latest headline on CNN's home page (note, it may change).

The situation in the Philippines is an utter catastrophe. The Capital Weather Gang does its usual excellent job of explaining why this storm's toll will end up being one of the worst in recent world history.

The Red Cross provided this graphic of Haiyam over a map of the United States. However, it is important to realize the actual dimensions.
click to enlarge
The eye of Haiyam was placed over Dodge City. The orange circle I have added would be the geographic extent of the damaging winds. The strongest winds are the black immediately around the eye. The winds in the eye are calm or nearly calm.

The satellite image below is from the Capital Weather Gang's coverage.
As indicated on the Red Cross' image, the most vicious winds are immediately outside of the calm eye. As the storm moved toward the west (right to left on the photo), Tacloban City was in the worst possible location.

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