Former Super Typhoon Hagupit (Ruby) Moves Away from Philippines

Tropical Storm Hagupit limped into the South China Sea after an arduous journey through the Philippines, having left behind up to 18 inches of rain.

The former super typhoon, known in the Philippines as Ruby, made at least four landfalls in that country. Two of those were as a typhoon and two more as a tropical storm.

Hagupit (Ruby) made its first landfall at 9:15 p.m. Dec. 6, local time near Dolores in eastern Samar, according to PAGASA, the Philippine national weather agency. At the time of landfall, Hagupit was the equivalent of a Category 3 storm on the Saffir-Simpson Hurricane Wind Scale, according to the U.S. military's Joint Typhoon Warning Center, with maximum sustained winds of about 125 mph.

A 78-mph peak sustained wind was clocked at Guiuan, at the southern tip of Eastern Samar the night of Dec. 6-7. Bands of heavy rain lashed Samar and Leyte, including Tacloban City Saturday night. There have been no reported fatalities in Tacloban, where thousands died during Super Typhoon Haiyan (Yolanda) just 13 months earlier.

(MORE: On the Ground After Typhoon Haiyan)

It made a second landfall on the morning of Dec. 7 over the city of Cataingan on the island of Masbate; the typhoon's center later passed within 20 km (12 miles) of Masbate City at 2 p.m. local time Dec. 7, but winds in Masbate City only peaked at 18 mph.

The Philippines are 13 hours ahead of U.S. Eastern Standard Time.

Its center passed about 55 miles south of Manila around 1 a.m. local time Dec. 9 (noon EST Dec. 8 in the U.S.). Some 52 hours passed from its first landfall in Eastern Samar province to its closest approach to Manila.

Very heavy rain fell across the northwestern portions of the Philippines even as Hagupit's winds diminished rapidly. Some areas just south and east of Manila picked up over a foot of rain, but the capital itself only received 1 to 2 inches.

The top reported rainfall total was in Catbalogan, which is located on the eastern island of Samar where Hagupit first arrived in the Philippines. Catbalogan reported 446.6 mm (17.58 inches) of rain from 8 a.m. local time Dec. 5 through 11 p.m. local time Dec. 8.

PAGASA discontinued all public storm warning signals for winds in the Philippines as of 11 a.m. local time Dec. 9.

The Philippines National Disaster Risk Reduction and Management Council said 2.7 million people in some 640,000 families had been affected by the storm as of Dec. 10. On that day, even though the cyclone had exited the country, nearly 1.8 million people were still sheltering in evacuation centers.

(MORE: Typhoon Leaves At Least 27 Dead in Philippines)

Tropical Storm Hagupit is expected to make its final landfall in Vietnam. Winds will no longer be a significant threat, but locally heavy rain is likely.

Perspective: Philippines Typhoons

In December 2011, Tropical Storm Washi (Sendong) dumped tremendous rainfall on the island of Mindanao, causing massive floods that killed 1,268 people. Winnie was only of tropical depression strength when it triggered deadly flooding in late Nov. 2004.

Over the past 10 years, six separate tropical cyclones have claimed over 1,000 lives in the Philippines, including:

- Haiyan/Yolanda Nov. 2013: Over 7,300 killed (AP)- Bopha/Pablo Dec. 2012: 1,901 killed- Washi/Sendong Dec. 2011: 1,268 killed- Fengshen/Frank Jun. 2008: 1,410 killed- Durian/Reming Nov./Dec. 2006: 1,399 killed- Winnie Nov. 2004: 1,593 killed

(WUNDERGROUND BLOG: Philippines Typhoon History {Written in Nov. 2013})

Storm History: Hagupit Spares Small Pacific Islands

Earlier in its lifetime, Hagupit made its closest approach to the Yap Islands on Dec. 3, local time (15 hours ahead of U.S. EST), passing about 60 miles to the south of the islands. Given its relatively small wind field at that time, only tropical storm-force wind gusts (peak gust to 43 mph) were recorded at Yap International Airport as of late Wednesday evening.

The center passed north of the Republic of Palau on the morning of Dec. 4, local time.

Closest to the center of Hagupit was Kayangel, a cluster of three atolls making up the northernmost state of Palau. It was not immediately clear how intense Hagupit's winds were in Kayangel, which like Tacloban was also heavily damaged by Haiyan in 2013.

Winds peaked at only 21 mph to the south in Koror, the more heavily populated state of the republic.

Hagupit began to undergo a period of rapid intensification on Dec. 3. According to the U.S. military's Joint Typhoon Warning Center, Hagupit became a super typhoon as of 2 p.m. EST Wednesday when its maximum sustained winds reached 150 mph -- a sharp increase from 115 mph just six hours earlier. Another six hours later, Hagupit's winds reached an estimated 180 mph.

Around the same time, the Japan Meteorological Agency (JMA) declared Hagupit a "violent" typhoon, the highest classification on its scale, with 10-minute sustained winds of 130 mph and gusts to 190 mph. That ties Vongfong for the highest wind speeds of 2014 in JMA's bulletins.

This put Hagupit in a tie with Super Typhoons Vongfong and Nuri in October as the most powerful typhoon (by wind speed) of 2014.

The rapid intensification was the result of impressive upper-level "outflow channels," basically air flow in the upper levels of the atmosphere spreading apart, or away from, the center of Hagupit. Those outflow channels near the top of the typhoon force air to rise more vigorously within its core circulation, allowing the central pressure to plummet and the typhoon's winds to increase.

Hagupit was the seventh Western Pacific cyclone to reach super typhoon status on the JTWC scale in 2014 and the fifth to be declared a violent typhoon by JMA.

Hagupit moved into the waters east of the Philippines early Dec. 4 local time, prompting that country's weather agency (PAGASA) to give it the name Ruby. The Philippines has its own alphabetical list of names, separate from the international list, for tropical cyclones passing near or over its territory.

December tropical cyclones in the western Pacific are a typical occurrence. On average, one or two tropical cyclones form in the western Pacific basin each year during December.

MORE ON WEATHER.COM: Typhoon Hagupit Photographs