Typhoon 16W (Bolaven), #14; TCCOR 1-C issued for Okinawa
Published: August 25, 2012
8 a.m. Sunday, Aug. 26, Japan time: Tropical Cyclone Condition of Readiness 1-C was issued for Okinawa at 3 a.m. local time. Actual winds between 40 and 56 mph are occurring. If you've not gotten indoors and out of harm's way, do so NOW! TCCOR 1-E won't be far behind and the really bad stuff will begin. Take cover and be safe!
3 a.m, Sunday, Aug. 26, Japan/Korea time:
Typhoon Bolaven has assumed a zig-zag walk as it slowly, ponderously makes its way northwest, still on target to take a 38-ounce Louisville Slugger to the island, but no longer does it appear as it will be a super typhoon when it rumbles 23 miles north of Kadena Air Base around 7 p.m. Sunday.
Joint Typhoon Warning Center’s latest warning says Bolaven has peaked at sustained 144-mph winds and 172-mph gusts at its center. Those speeds are over open water, but that means Bolaven will still pack a mean wallop as it crosses the island into the East China Sea, then into the Yellow Sea (or West Sea) off the Korean peninsula’s west coast.
Okinawa remained in Tropical Cyclone Condition of Readiness 1 prior to midnight. Gusts approaching 50 mph were felt early this morning at both Kadena Air Base and Naha International Airport, the latter which has been closed to all air traffic, domestic and international, on Sunday. Upgrade to TCCOR 1-C is expected sometime early this morning with TCCOR 1-E at mid-morning.
Here’s the latest forecast wind timetable from Kadena’s 18th Wing Weather Flight:
-- Sustained 35-mph winds or greater, 2:30 a.m. Sunday.
-- Sustained 40-mph winds or greater, 3 a.m. Sunday.
-- Sustained 58-mph winds or greater, 9 a.m. Sunday.
-- Maximum sustained 144-mph winds and 173-mph gusts, 7 p.m. Sunday.
-- Winds diminishing below 58 mph, 2 a.m. Monday.
-- Winds diminishing below 40 mph, 9 a.m. Monday.
-- Winds diminishing below 35 mph, 1 p.m. Monday.
The good news for Korea is, with Bolaven’s wobble to the left, it’s track, according to the JTWC’s latest forecast, could veer more to the left than earlier projected.
Can the peninsula’s west coast still expect nasty weather on Tuesday? You bet. Southerly winds exceeding 58 mph and between 7 and 9 inches of rain, according to the latest local forecasts. And Bolaven will remain a solid Category 2-equivalent storm as it roars 88 miles west of Kunsan Air Base at 10 a.m. Tuesday, 74 miles west of Inchon at 3 p.m. and 100 miles west of Osan Air Base at 2 p.m. and Yongsan Garrison at 3 p.m. It should remain a fairly significant typhoon as it rams ashore near Pyongyang around 6 p.m.
PST will eyeball Bolaven until the bitter end.
