Super Typhoon Vongfong Has Erupted Into The Biggest Storm Of 2014
By George Dvorsky, io9, 8 October 2014.
By George Dvorsky, io9, 8 October 2014.
Over the course of 24 hours, Typhoon Vongfong rapidly strengthened from a Category 3 to Category 5. With sustained winds approaching 170 mph (272 km/h), the storm is heading straight towards Japan - a country still reeling from Typhoon Phanfone.
Vongfong is the strongest tropical cyclone of the year, and the strongest since last year's Typhoon Haiyan which featured 195 mph (315 km/h) winds and devastated parts of the Philippines, leaving over 6,000 dead and more than 1,800 missing. Haiyan also struck Japan, leaving terrible floods in its wake.
The current super Typhoon - now at a Cat 5 - is currently spinning over open water. It's heading north towards the Japanese island prefecture of Okinawa. Typhoons graduate to 'super' status when winds reach 150 mph (241 km/h).
It's moving slowly in a west-northwest direction. Prior to its current trajectory, it passed by the Pacific island of Guam where it deposited heavy rain and causing minor damage.
Image: Weather Underground
Thankfully, if the typhoon maintains its current course towards Japan, it is expected to lose its intensity, dropping to a Cat 3 by the time it reaches shore at the southern Japanese island of Kyushu on Saturday October 11. That said, Japan is once again bracing for floods.
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