Sierra Madre weakens Uwan into typhoon – Pagasa

MANILA, Philippines — The Sierra Madre is trending on social media, after Super Typhoon Uwan weakened into a typhoon upon hitting the mountain range in the country’s eastern section and spared much of the Luzon provinces from its wrath.

Did the 540-kilometer mountain range temper the monstrous storm?

Yes, according to the Philippine Atmospheric, Geophysical and Astronomical Services Administration (PAGASA).

“Sierra Madre indeed weakened Uwan into a typhoon category upon landfall primarily because of the friction,” Marcelino Villafuerte II, PAGASA’s deputy administrator for research and development, said.

Villafuerte affirmed social media postings that showed satellite images of Uwan with its eye disappearing after passing through Sierra Madre.

“Sierra Madre distorted the structure of the typhoon as it passed through the mountain range with elevations of approximately 2,000 meters,” the PAGASA official explained.

Like the typhoon, however, people’s expectations of the mountain range should also be tempered, as the landform offers Luzon no blanket protection from cyclones.

American storm chaser Josh Morgerman went to his Facebook page to remind Filipinos that Sierra Madre does not diminish a typhoon from the get-go.

“It weakens typhoons after they make landfall on the east coast of Luzon,” Morgerman, who is stationed in Baler, Aurora to monitor Uwan, wrote.

Indeed, Uwan only weakened into a typhoon after crossing the mountainous terrain of northern Luzon. Prior to that, it made landfall at 9:10 p.m. in Dinalungan, Aurora, with sustained winds of 185 kilometers per hour and gusts of 230 kph.