CoconutCandy
User
Reged: Fri
Posts: 245
Loc: Beautiful Honolulu Hawaii
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Tropical Storm 'ROKE' is expected to pass very near to Kadena within the next day or so.
Weather Conditions at Kadena Airbase
Although only a 35 Knot Tropical Storm at the moment, it is very well organized, as this 'first light' visible still photo reveals.
You can see the Island of Okinawa just to the left of storm as it tracks essentially westward, with a slight dip in the center's track upon closest approach to the Island.
It's going to be a slow mover, so torrential rains, rather than damaging winds, and the very real possibility of flash flooding and life threatening mudslides remain as potential specters.
--- animated visible loop forthcoming ---
Although not expected to strengthen significantly, it's quite possible that 'TS 'Roke' will begin to recurve towards Japan with increasing forward speed towards the end of the current forecast period.
Barring the possibility of unprecedented flash flooding, Roke's impact on the Island should not be as severe as Typhoon 'Songda', which occurred in late May of this year.
( Thanks Ed, for posting on Typhoon Songda earlier this year. ---> CAT 4 Typhoon Songda )
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Edited by Ed Dunham (Thu Sep 15 2011 11:47 PM)
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vpbob21
Weather Guru
Reged: Fri
Posts: 115
Loc: Ohio
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Fortunately Roke has stayed well to the east of Okinawa. This has been quite an interesting cyclone as a few days ago it was stuck under an upper low and didn't look all that tropical, a lot like some of the storms we get out in the eastern Atlantic late in the season. But it sure looks tropical now, undergoing rapid intensification and is now a 115 mph typhoon with a ring of very cold cloud tops around the center. It has recently started to pull off to the NNE, passing rather close to Amami Island where they reported tropical storm force winds and a pressure down to at least 986 mb.
Japan is going to get some rough weather from this as it is expected to accelerate quickly to the NE and make landfall in about 36 hours and pass west of Tokyo. It will then merge with a front and get sucked into the big gyre over the NE Pacific. It will have a say (along with Typhoon Sonca moving the same direction out ahead of it) in how the pattern develops downstream across the U.S. this weekend and next week. Check out today's Extended Forecast Discussion.
Edited by vpbob21 (Mon Sep 19 2011 06:21 PM)
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