Powerful Typhoon Sanba Slams Okinawa, South Korea Next (Amazing Storm Footage!)

Written by Mark Vogan on September 16, 2012 in Asia with 0 Comments

Courtesy of JMA.

Typhoon Sanba came crashing ashore early this morning (around 6am local time) local time in the northeast of the southern Japanese island of Okinawa as an estimated 120 mph (Cat 3) storm. Wind gusts were measured at approximately 149 mph according to JTWC.

As well as packing tremendous, screaming winds, it also dumped a tremendous amount of rainfall across the island which caused flooding. The eye is said to have been half the island’s size as it came ashore.

What’s interesting about this system is that after peaking as a 900mb, 175 mph Super Typhoon, Sanba weakened considerably but underwent an eyewall replacement cycle in which the exisiting eye collapses and a new one forms, often the new eye is much larger than the initial and the wind field expands. The typhoon was what is known as ‘Annular’, these are rare and they often display perfect CDO symmetry. Their intensity often holds longer and an eyewall replcement does not occur but as Sanba track more NW, it exited the Philippine Sea region of the Western Pacific and water temperatures cooled and dry air strated to entrain into the circulation from off Asia. This weakened the storm and in fact it weakened all the way to Cat 2.

A man waits for a boat to transport him to higher ground on a flooded street after continuous overnight rain brought by Typhoon Sanba in San Juan, Philippines, on Saturday, September 15. Parts of Manila were under 6 feet of water Saturday. More than 400 people had to flee their homes, officials said. (Image courtesy of cnn.com)

Myself and others believed this storm would not be as serious as first feared for Okinawa and I wrote on facebook Saturday morning stating that this would not be as bad as Bolaven was which struck August 27, I think it’s safe to that this was not the case unfortunately. That statement was made at a time when the system looked rather unimpressure but shortely after it began to show signs of regeneration and real power once again. The eyewall replacement did it’s thing. The surprise for me was that Sanba was entering cooling waters (though still plenty warm to support a tropical system) and dry air was flowing off the continent so I guess that is what made me feel this storm wasn’t going to come back to any significant life. In the end it did regenerate and become a powerful storm once again, regaining Cat 3 intensity. Often once a system weakens from an intense peak, it undergoes that eyewall replacement but never really gains a whole lot of strength afterwards.

Next Stop For Sanba, South Korea!

As Sanba moves away from Okinawa and conditions improve considerably here, it’s South Korea’s turn next for a hit from this storm. Landfall should occur during Monday.

Here is the track forecast from JMA.