By Bethany Bella

The typhoon season had just officially ended on Nov. 1, thus many Filipinos were not prepared for such a crippling disaster this late in the year. But the sheer intensity of Haiyan has continued to baffle climate experts and meteorologists across the globe. According to the Washington Post, this super typhoon could end up being the strongest storm to ever make landfall since modern record-keeping began. M.I.T. Tropical Meteorology Professor Kerry Emanuel noted that storms often hit after theyve peaked in strength or before they get a chance to, but Haiyan struck when it was its most powerful, based on various satellite observations. The Philippines resides in one of the most susceptible locations to oceanic natural disasters. Even though the international count of hurricanes, cyclones, and typhoons hasnt expanded over the past decade, the intensity of these storms has notably increased. Weve seen in the past decades the oceans are warming up, likely due to climate change. All typhoons feed off the warm ocean waters, so warmer oceans will give us more energy for these storms, likely resulting in more intense storms, Colin Price, head of the geophysical, atmospheric, and planetary sciences department at Tel Aviv University in Israel, said. In addition to the vast expanses of warm water surrounding the island chain, the geography, meteorology, poverty, unstable construction, ballooning population, and climate change are all believed to have contributed to the typhoon-laden habitat of the Philippines.

At dawn on a moist, November morning came a hydraulic concoction like no other Super Typhoon Haiyan. The Philippines, an archipelago comprised of 7,107 islands, was ransacked on Friday, Nov. 8, 2013 at 5 a.m. local time by a massive typhoon. This Category 5 storm - known as Haiyan in the United States, Yolanda in the Philippines has been described by oceanographic experts as off the charts, a true tropical cyclone perfection. Winds exceeded 150 miles per hour, with some U.S. satellites recording wind speeds of up to 195 miles per hour. As the water surged in over two stories high, houses crumbled, coastlines disintegrated, and thousands of people vanished beneath the churning waves. An estimated 10,000 civilians are assumed dead, as the number of confirmed fatalities continues to creep higher and higher. Super Typhoon Haiyan shocked the world, as the Philippines braced itself against this ravaging storm.

Human, as opposed to natural, contributions to these devastating storms make up about 75-80 percent of the destruction, based on University of Miamis Brian McNoldy, a hurricane researcher, analysis. A colossal increase in population is the tip of the iceberg, so to speak. As population heavily increases over a short period of time, so does the need for relocating this influx in individuals. Fragile, poorly-constructed housing shelters begin to crowd the coastline. As poverty seeps through the slums of nations such as the Philippines, these areas of highly-concentrated,

unstable structures become a major hazard to torrential storms, such as Super Typhoon Haiyan. Many believe that the cause of such natural disasters is based on global climate change, pinpointing the rise in greenhouse gas emissions with the rise in both international temperatures and sea levels. Olai Ngedikes, the lead negotiator for an alliance of small island nations, said at the Warsaw United Nations talk on Nov. 11 that Super Typhoon Haiyan is a stark reminder of the cost of inaction on climate change and should serve to motivate our

work in Warsaw. The United Nations met the second week of November to discuss a global climate treaty. Super Typhoon Haiyan left the Philippine Islands in a state of utter desolation, while those Americans along the east coast have yet to forget the massive destruction of Hurricane Sandy in 2012. It seems that beastly tropical storms are becoming the latest trend in a world of melting ice caps and smoldering exhaust fumes, which poses the burning question When will the next super-storm strike?