Tropical Storm Conson - Wpac

[James Reynolds]

Well the Wpac has awoken after a very long respite. Tropical storm Conson was upgraded last night and is charging towards the Philippines as I type.

The season out here has been very slow so far this year, with Conson being only the 2nd named storm when we should be averaging almost 6 by now.

Conson put on a rapid burst of intensification and I do expect it to become a typhoon before hitting the Philippines. Shear is pretty low all the way to Luzon and SSTs are very warm.

Depending on how it develops overnight a trip to Manila tomorrow might not be out of the question....we'll see.

 

[James Reynolds]

I decided against going to Manila in the end.

Conson about to make landfall over central Luzon and may even pass very close to Manila. Once it passes into the South China Sea it looks set to move WNW / NW towards southern China. Agencies are differing in their intensity forecasts at the moment with JMA, KMA, NMC and HKO all expecting further strengthening whilst JTWC expects Conson to weaken.

Going to be a busy few days of storm tracking ahead in these parts!

 

[James Reynolds]

Well I decided to take a gamble and go after Conson. I'm in Sanya, on south coast of Hainan staying in very nice hotel with ocean view. Conson has ramped up again and looks like passing close to my location.

Hopefully if I get a direct hit it will be just before dusk - I'm fed up with all these night time landfalls of late!

More updates to come.

 

[James Reynolds]

Video now online - http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dT2FtvzBamQ

Got screwed yet again by my worst enemy - night! Second passage of eyewall was much more ferocious and all occurred after dark, did best I could given the circumstances.

Still, very pleased I managed to get into the eye and in such comfortable circumstances!

 

[cdcollura]

Good day all,

Cool stuff, JR

Amazing how those "Asian folks" do not lose power so quickly. This should soften the blow of a nightime landfall.

Even a weak cat-1 in the "states" (USA) at night is a pitch-black death nail for filming hurricanes! It's all about the infrastructures I guess.

Interesting (and eerie) howling sound too toward the end of the clip.