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Tropical Storm 18W (Roke), # 14; Tropical Storm 19W (Sonca), # 3

By Dave Ornauer
Published: September 15, 2011

2:30 a.m. Saturday, Sept. 17, Japan time: Okinawa remains in Tropical Cyclone Condition of Readiness 3. Although forecasts don’t call for Roke to develop beyond a middling to severe tropical storm, it will remain in Okinawa’s neighbourhood for awhile, almost as if it's grabbing a latte at a Starbucks in Mihama. Joint Typhoon Warning Center forecasts Roke to pass 23 miles south-southeast of Kadena Air Base at 6 p.m. Tuesday. Kadena’s 18th Wing Weather Flight forecast calls for maximum sustained 46-mph winds and 58-mph gusts between 6 p.m. Tuesday and 9 p.m. Wednesday, with 9 to 12 inches of rain. As for Tropical Storm Sonca, JTWC forecasts call for it to curve well to the east of the Kanto Plain as a severe tropical storm, well east of Yokosuka Naval Base at 9 p.m. Sunday. PST will continue to keep an eye on both.

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About the Author


Dave Ornauer has been with Stars and Stripes since March 5, 1981. One of his first assignments as a beat reporter in the old Japan News Bureau was “typhoon chaser,” a task which he resumed virtually full time since 2004, the year after his job, as a sports writer-photographer, moved to Okinawa and Ornauer with it.

As a typhoon reporter, Ornauer pores over Web sites managed by the Joint Typhoon Warning Center as well as U.S. government, military and local weather outlets for timely, topical information. Pacific Storm Tracker is designed to take the technical lingo published on those sites and simplify it for the average Stripes reader.