Powerful typhoon Sinlaku intercept - on course to smash Taiwan

[James Reynolds]

For a bit of action on the other side of the world, typhoon Sinalku is crawling towards Taiwan as a monstrous storm. It went through an EWRC earlier today and now has a huge eye about 60nm accross.

I am in Taipei and will relocate to the NE coast tomorrow morning and await the chaos. This is a slow moving storm so the potential for catastrophic flooding is very real. Current intensity from CWB is 100kts (10min) 925hPa and from JMA 85kts (10 min) 935hPa.

The NE coast is very exposed so the winds there tomorrow wil be INTENSE. Photos and video to come!

 

[Jim Leonard]

[FONT=Verdana, Arial, Helvetica] Looking at the latest satellite loops show the large eye of typhoon Sinlaku is moving more toward the northern tip of Taiwan where James should be by now. He should be in some of the strongest effects of the storm during the next several hours. It is nighttime now but this typhoon is so large and slow moving so James should get some good daytime video afterall.[/FONT]

 

[B Ozanne]

Awesome, keep us updated.

I find it amazing how places like Taiwan get slammed by Cat 3 equivalent typhoons then pick up the mess and get back to life as usual within a few days.

 

[James Reynolds]

Yes Bill, they're certainly very typhoon hardy out here which makes intercepting very pleasurable. No curfews, evacuations, panic buying to contend with and full mobile phone coverage during the eyewall and 7-11 staying open makes life very convenient!

Not much more for me to say tonight, but tomorrow will be very action packed. Judging by latest track I could be in eyewall/eye conditions for over 24 hours.

 

[Dann Cianca]

Very close to Taiwan right now ... (RADAR source is from Japan and doesn't cover the entire cyclone).

 

[James Reynolds]

On location about 10km north of Toucheng (which is 20km north of Ilan ish). CWB radar is brilliant and sat presentation looks much better than it did earlier. It seems to have intensified somewhat. JMA expecting it to blast us overnight and into tomorrow morning. I'm expecting about 18 hours in the eyewall/eye so it's shaping up to be a spectacular event.

Ilan currently recording pressure of 988.7hPa and my Kestrel is currently reading 987.5 so it's not too far off (i'm about 1m above sea level!)

 

[James Reynolds]

Starting to get wavey by the coast!

 

[James Reynolds]

Here's a link to a video I put together of typhoon Sinlaku and its full fury. Enjoy:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2Ny_gFPn2L0

 

[Stuart Robinson]

James,

Sinlaku did a sort of loop the loop before landfall - I recall that Krosa did the same in Oct 07. Is this common for Typhoons and Taiwan to do this loop the loop?