Typhoon 17W (Sanba), # 8
Published: September 12, 2012
9:45 a.m. Thursday, Sept. 13, Japan time: Can’t emphasize enough; this could be “the one.” The latest Joint Typhoon Warning Center forecast track has Sanba roaring 40 miles southwest of Okinawa at 2 p.m. Sunday, packing Category 4-equivalent winds at its center and exposing Okinawa to its east quadrants.
Those are typically the worst quadrants because they carry with them all the nastiness that Sanba will have sopped up from warmer, southern ocean waters. Worse, Sanba’s forward motion appears to have slowed, giving it more time to nourish itself with tropical moisture.
Latest forecast wind timeline from Kadena Air Base’s 18th Wing Weather Flight:
-- 35-mph sustained winds and greater, midnight Saturday.
-- 40-mph sustained winds and greater, 1 a.m. Sunday.
-- 58-mph sustained winds and greater, 7 a.m. Sunday.
-- Maximum 127-mph winds, 144-mph gusts, 2 p.m. Sunday.
-- Winds diminishing below 58 mph, 7 p.m. Sunday.
-- Winds diminishing below 40 mph, midnight. Sunday.
-- Winds diminishing below 35 mph, 1 a.m. Monday.
Time to start cleaning up around home and office and make those trips to purchase those necessities NOW.
After Okinawa, Korea could be Sanba’s next destination; JTWC forecasts Sanba to make a beeline for Korea’s southern coast by Monday or Tuesday.
