How Cyclone Yasi compares around the world

by Lincoln Archer and Andi Mastrosavas, news.com.au, February 3, 2011

Date/Time: 2011:02:02 13:29:18

AS far north Queensland takes stock of the damage wrought by Cyclone Yasi, the rest of the nation and the world is seeing a clearer picture of the scale of the disaster.

Most of the coverage about the scale of Yasi has tried to compare it with storms of the past - it's bigger than Larry, more powerful than Tracy. Hours after landfall, it was still a category three and had been forecast to still be a category one even when it reached Mt Isa, more han 700km away.

But these are numbers, or remote statistics - and unless you met Yasi close up or are a meteorologist, they can be a little overwhelming.

So if you're struggling to grasp the magnitude of Tropical Cyclone Yasi, consider this: it is so large it would almost cover the United States, most of Asia and large parts of Europe. The pre-landfall core was over 500km wide and its associated activity stretched well over 2000km.

The storm's scale of destruction is as shocking as it is inevitable. In the map above, the United States from Pennsylvania in the east to Nevada in the west, from Georgia in the south to Canada in the north and well into Mexico would be battered. The areas highlighted red would be worst hit, with up to 300km/h winds and up to one metre of rain.

The economic impact would be felt around the world.

Scroll down to see a close-up comparison of the heart of Yasi over New Orleans and other centres.

This map shows the impact if the storm was attacking Asia:

TC Yasi superimposed on Asia

Source: news.com.au

Again, the scale is unthinkable - taking in an area from Japan, the Koreas and China all the way through southeast Asia, around through India and the Himalayas and threatening large parts of central Asia.

This would have billions of people directly in the path of the category 5 storm, creating a human tide of displaced cyclone "refugees".

This map shows the storm over western and central Europe:

TC Yasi superimposed on Europe

Source: news.com.au

Just as we saw in our visualisation of the Queensland floods, the whole of Britain would be overwhelmed.

But this time, France and Germany would also be catastrophically affected, delivering another body blow to the European economy at the least and also disrupting the lives of hundreds of millions of people.

Even the eye of Yasi is as big as a city. This next map shows the heart of the storm over New Orleans, covering Louisiana and neighbouring states.

The eye itself, 35km across at landfall, would stretch over all of the Katrina-ravaged city's centre. In the maps below, you can see Shanghai and New Zealand's north island bearing the brunt of category five.

Yasi's eye over New Orleans

Source: news.com.au

Yasi's eye over Shanghai

Source: news.com.au

Yasi's eye over New Zealand

Source: news.com.au

These maps are merely visualisations of relative scales and are not meant to suggest storms of this level would form anywhere in the world.

Instead, they illustrate an annual threat that is, if not uniquely Australian, at least so much a part of our summer that we speak of "cyclone season" as though it is on a par with "cricket season".

But every so often, we are forced to confront the raw power of our country and its dangers.

Climate Change: The Next Generation

Thursday, February 3, 2011

How Cyclone Yasi compares around the world