Typhoon 16W (Bolaven), # 12: TCCOR 1 issued for Okinawa
Published: August 24, 2012
5 p.m. Saturday, Aug. 25, Japan time: Okinawa entered Tropical Cyclone Conditon of Readiness 1 at 5 p.m. local time.
Looks like Typhoon Bolaven will make its entrance to Okinawa as a severe Category 4-equivalent super typhoon, pretty much what Bart was when it battered the island 13 years ago.
We’re still in Tropical Cyclone Condition of Readiness 2; expect upgrade to TCCOR 1 this afternoon, 1-C this evening and 1E early tomorrow morning; that timetable could change depending on Bolaven’s forward speed, which at the moment is 8 mph northwest.
The latest forecast wind timeline from Kadena Air Base’s 18th Wing Weather Flight:
-- Sustained 35-mph winds, 3 p.m. Saturday.
-- Sustained 40-mph winds, 7 p.m. Saturday.
-- Sustained 58-mph winds, 5 a.m. Sunday.
-- Maximum 150-mph winds and 184-mph gusts, 3 to 6 p.m. Sunday.
-- Winds diminishing below 58 mph, 6 a.m. Monday.
-- Winds diminishing below 40 mph, noon Monday.
-- Winds diminishing below 35 mph, 3 p.m. Monday.
If you haven’t tidied things up around office or home, if you haven’t made that commissary run, if you haven’t visited the ATM or gassed up the car, DO SO NOW! You have little time to waste.
As for this big, bad boy’s next destination, Bolaven is forecast to remain a strong Category 2-equivalent storm as it chugs north into the Yellow Sea (or West Sea).
On Tuesday, Bolaven is forecast to roar 70 miles west of Kunsan Air Base at noon and 85 miles west of Osan Air Base at 4 p.m. and Yongsan Garrison at 5 p.m. Forecasts call for 58-mph gusts and between 6 to 12 inches of rain.
Even Sasebo Naval Base in southwestern Japan isn’t out of the woods. No TCCORs have been issued, but forecasts call for east-southeasterly winds between 18 and 28 mph with gusts to 35 Monday morning, increasing to 23 to 35 mph with 52-mph gusts by early afternoon, then shifting southeast to 35 to 46 mph with 63-mph gusts in the evening.
Two words: BE SAFE!
