Typhoon ‘Ulysses’ that wreaked havoc in the Philippines appeared in a satellite imagery of the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration to have a strange tail of clouds stretching up to the North Pacific region.
The tail, however, was not connected to the deadly typhoon but was a separate phenomenon called a stationary front.
Dr. Gerry Bagtasa, an atmospheric physicist and professor, told InterAksyon that a front is formed when cold winds from Siberia moves southward and meet the moist air of tropical regions during the Amihan season.
“Sometimes, the tip of this front affects the Philippines and is what PAGASA refers to as the ‘tail-end of a cold front,’ because only its tail-end affects us. The flooding in Claveria or Aparri around a week ago (or so) was due to this,” Bagtasa said.
Bagtasa said that a typhoon can be formed with or without the front.
The report estimates that the tail of the cold front can span at around 9,500 kilometers or from the Philippines to the Gulf of Alaska.
Bagtasa said that the fronts usually are not this long. He also emphasized that the typhoon and the front are not connected.
He attributed it some unusual weather patterns around Japan and the northern Pacific ocean.
