Typhoon 11W (Damrey) # 7; Typhoon 10W (Saola) # 8 FINAL
Published: August 1, 2012
6:45 p.m. Wednesday, Aug. 1, Japan time: Damrey was upgraded to a Category 1-equivalent typhoon late Wednesday afternoon by the Joint Typhoon Warning Center and was packing 75-mph sustained winds and 92-mph gusts at its center. Forecast to pass 153 miles south of Sasebo Naval Base at 8 p.m. Wednesday, it's expected to rake Sasebo with 50-mph gusts overnight. A high-wind warning remains in effect until 3 a.m. Sasebo remains in Tropical Cyclone Condition of Readiness Storm Watch. Typhoon Saola has passed its closest point of approach to Kadena Air Base, Okinawa, where wind, rainshowers and isolated thunderstorms are forecast through Thursday. Assuming the two typhoons remain on their forecast tracks, PST signs off for now.
1:30 p.m. Wednesday, Aug. 1, Japan time: Sasebo Naval Base entered Tropical Cyclone Condition of Readiness Storm Watch on Wednesday morning. Small in diameter but growing powerful at its center, Tropical Storm Damrey is forecast by the Joint Typhoon Warning Center to intensify into a Category 1-equivalent typhoon overnight Wednesday as it roars 155 miles south at about 8 p.m. Wednesday.
Expect isolated showers and winds between 25 and 35 mph, gusting to 50 mph overnight Wednesday into early Thursday morning, gradually decreasing into the afternoon. Partly cloudy skies are expected Friday and Saturday.
To Okinawa’s southwest, Typhoon Saola has slowed a bit and is forecast to peak out at 121-mph sustained winds and 150-mph gusts at mid-morning Friday, well past its projected closest point of approach to Kadena Air Base, 335 miles west-southwest at 8 a.m. Thursday.
Kadena’s 18th Wing Weather Flight’s extended forecast calls for isolated rainshowers and a chance of thunderstorms with 23-mph winds and 35-mph gusts continuing into Friday morning, with partly cloudy skies and winds decreasing into the weekend.