Super Typhoon Nock-Ten (Nina), the Most Intense Christmas Tropical Cyclone in 56 Years, Hammers the Philippines

Linda Lam
Published: December 26,2016

Super Typhoon Nock-Ten made landfall early Christmas morning EST, or Christmas evening local time.

Super typhoon Nock-ten slammed into the Philippines on Christmas Day as the most intense late December tropical cyclone anywhere on the globe in over a half century.
(LATEST NEWS: Nock-ten/Nina Turns Deadly)
Known in the Philippine area of responsibility as "Nina," this super typhoon first made landfall on Christmas Day as the equivalent of a Category 4 hurricane on the Saffir-Simpson Hurricane Wind Scale, with winds of 155 mph.
Nock-ten/Nina was the strongest Christmas Day tropical cyclone anywhere on the globe dating to 1960, according to Colorado State University tropical scientist, Dr. Phil Klotzbach.
(MORE: Hurricane Central)
Klotzbach also tweeted Nock-ten/Nina was the strongest Philippines landfall so late in the year on record, dating to the end of World War II.
Hardest hit was Catanduanes Island, one of the easternmost islands of the northern Philippines, first intercepted by the eyewall of Nock-ten/Nina at its Category 4 intensity.
Nock-ten/Nina's eyewall then tracked over the Philippine provinces of Albay, Camarines Sur, Quezon, Marinduque, Oriental Mindoro, Occidental Mindoro and Batangas before heading over the South China Sea by Dec. 26.
A Weather Underground personal weather station near Legazpi City, south of where the eye tracked in the Bicol Region, picked up 6.92 inches of rain on Christmas Day alone, and a storm total of 8.01 inches from Dec. 24-26.
Nock-ten underwent rapid intensification from Dec. 23-24, meaning the typhoon's maximum sustained winds increased by at least 30 knots (about 35 mph) in 24 hours or less.

A favorable environment of low vertical wind shear and warm sea-surface temperatures lead to the rapid intensification.

Tropical storms and hurricanes are almost never a Christmas concern in the Atlantic basin but can happen year-round in the northwest Pacific Ocean.
The last typhoon to make landfall in the Philippines was Super Typhoon Haima, known locally as Lawin. Haima made landfall in the northern Philippines on Oct. 19 with winds of 140 mph. Damage was extensive from Haima and at least 13 people died.
(MORE: Super Typhoon Haima Damaged or Destroyed Nearly Every Home in One Philippine City)
PHOTOS: Super Typhoon Nock-ten (Nina)