Typhoon Pepeng (international codename: Parma), which lashed Northern Luzon last Saturday and exited the Philippines area of responsibility towards the direction of Taiwan on Sunday, returned back to the Philippines via Ilocos Norte, making landfall Tuesday night, packing peak winds of 105km and gustiness up to 135kph, the Pagasa said.
Pepeng's return was anticipated as it lingered for two days in the South China Sea.
The apparent change of heart of Pepeng was attributed to another typhoon Quedan (internationally designated as Melor), churning in the Pacific, 2,000 kilometers east of the Philippines. Quedan sucked in Pepeng affecting its direction.
Pagasa however added that the strength of the second landfall of Pepeng is not as strong as its first landfall in Cagayan last Saturday.
This dance of the typhoons is apparently not a new phenomenon. Experts call it the Fujiwhara Effect named after a Japanese meteorologist named Dr. Sakuhei Fujiwhara. In 1921, Dr. Fujiwhara determined that two storms will sometimes move around a common center pivot point.
Fujiwhara Effect has been used to describe the tendency of two nearby tropical cyclones to interact with each other. Sometimes they merge into one super typhoon.
In the case of Quedan, it didn't really made a landfall in the Philippines. It headed north at 22 kph toward Japan, and could possibly pull in Pepeng to follow a north northeast track.@
Wednesday, October 7, 2009
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