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iCyclone Typhoon Chasing Expedition - Fall 2013


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This is the closest obs to the northern end of the island I could find anyone got anything on the north end? This spot is located about halfway up the island.

 

http://www.wunderground.com/cgi-bin/findweather/hdfForecast?query=okinawa

 

There is a airport on Yoron Island just north of the main island that is liable to get the northern eyewall but I cant find anything for it. 

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Uh...I still have 115 kts gusting to 140.

TY 1324 (DANAS)

Issued at 04:50 UTC, 7 October 2013

<Analyses at 07/04 UTC>

Scale -

Intensity Very Strong

Center position N26°05'(26.1°)

E129°00'(129.0°)

Direction and speed of movement NW 35km/h(20kt)

Central pressure 935hPa

Maximum wind speed near the center 50m/s(100kt)

Maximum wind gust speed 70m/s(140kt)

Area of 50kt winds or more NE170km(90NM)

SW130km(70NM)

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With each passing hour, it's looking increasingly more likely that they will experience the SW eyewall. Still going to be an excruciatingly close call either way. Still can't completely rule out the unlikely prospect of even catching a portion of the eye. At this point, I suspect they'd be pretty happy with catching at least a portion of the SW eyewall.

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That's awesome! Congrats on the success and us all deserve this after what 2013 has become. Hopefully Danas will be explosively intensifying as it hits you guys directly during daylight  :D . It appears to be already doing this so good luck!

My hopes are panning out exactly the way I wanted, a major bright spot for 2013 tropical cyclone intercepts!

 

Yep, staying on Okinawa Island and heading to the NE tip. It's current heading would give us a royal butt-kicking. Yowee.

Radar presentation is sick.

Yes, this could be one of your best chases if everything goes right. This one is going to remind you of what a true power tropical cyclones are. Congrats again, stay safe, and capture lots of footage!  :thumbsup: 

 

Convection has warmed quite a bit over the past several hours. The eye remains very well-defined though.

 

*Image*

I've seen this happen often with these types of evolving TCs. Every time there is a buzz saw cyclone that explodes and isn't in a perfect environment yet still in a great one, tend to do this. The eye is becoming extremely symmetrical and more annular like while the surrounding convection fades. I don't know why this happens but in my opinion its not weakening despite cloud tops mattering in every other instance. I think it has something to do with a transition of the type of TC it is (not annular necessarily but possible). There have been CAT5 tropical cyclones that didn't have very cold cloud tops before but extremely symmetrical eyes.

 

Wouldn't be shocked if Damas was nearing super typhoon status. Looks amazing!

I wondered if it already was one when I first saw her today  :rambo: . My personal estimate on strength is around 130-135 knots 1 min. About 5 hours ago it was around 125 knots.

 

I wouldn't call it an Andrew... cloud tops are warming... but this is probably legit high end Cat 3/low end Cat 4.

See my explanation above on the cloud tops warming thing, but how can this be a high end CAT3 only? No way. And your using 1 min winds? I do ask though to those comparing to Andrew, do you think its a CAT5 typhoon currently?

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With each passing hour, it's looking increasingly more likely that they will experience the SW eyewall. Still going to be an excruciatingly close call either way. Still can't completely rule out the unlikely prospect of even catching a portion of the eye. At this point, I suspect they'd be pretty happy with catching at least a portion of the SW eyewall.

 

The SW eyewall is traditionally the weakest portion of a NW moving storm (especially one moving at a quick clip such as this), although based merely on the radar reflectivity, it seems that the W side of the eyewall is pretty robust! 

 

Its going to be a very close call, and if the storm takes any significant northward jog they will probably just miss out on the SW eyewall. Of course a westward wobble would probably put them firmly in the eyewall with an outside shot at making the eye, but that appears pretty unlikely at this point. 

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With each passing hour, it's looking increasingly more likely that they will experience the SW eyewall. Still going to be an excruciatingly close call either way. Still can't completely rule out the unlikely prospect of even catching a portion of the eye. At this point, I suspect they'd be pretty happy with catching at least a portion of the SW eyewall.

 

They can't go any farther N without being unsafe or in the ocean (lol).. I like this town because of the seawall/harbor and if something goes wrong there is people there. If it only was a cat one or a two, I'd suggest they go to that point (Cape Hedo) but not in a storm like this.

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James, they are at 10 feet, 200 yards from the bay, no surge concerns? 150 mph winds in a car? I know they are experienced, just wondering

 

While this is a very intense storm, I don't think the surge associated with this system will be as significant as what they might have experienced with Fitow given that the radius of winds is much smaller with Danas and is likely unable to draw as large of a fetch of high seas. 

 

With that said, anything above cat 3 can be devastating for those right along the coastline, and given the small size and fast forward motion, things would probably be changing very rapidly in these last few hours before impact. However, in smaller very intense TCs, the main impact in most cases is actually the wind (think like TC's Charley and Andrew). 

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See my explanation above on the cloud tops warming thing, but how can this be a high end CAT3 only? No way. And your using 1 min winds? I do ask though to those comparing to Andrew, do you think its a CAT5 typhoon currently?

 

I'm taking to account a weaker pressure gradient than would be encountered in the Atlantic. I'd assume that background pressures are already pretty low due to Fitow not being too far away.

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James, they are at 10 feet, 200 yards from the bay, no surge concerns? 150 mph winds in a car? I know they are experienced, just wondering

 

The've got another 10 feet in the building on top of the 10 feet above the harbor. There is also a sea/breakwall in the harbor along with a natural reef that should cut down the wave action. As Phil said also, it's a small system, it won't have the pushing power of a regular cat 4.

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They can't go any farther N without being unsafe or in the ocean (lol).. I like this town because of the seawall/harbor and if something goes wrong there is people there. If it only was a cat one or a two, I'd suggest they go to that point (Cape Hedo) but not in a storm like this.

I wholeheartedly agree! Excellent choice. I too would be very happy to at least catch a portion of the SW eyewall, and am very encouraged that it currently appears they will do so. :)

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The SW eyewall is traditionally the weakest portion of a NW moving storm (especially one moving at a quick clip such as this), although based merely on the radar reflectivity, it seems that the W side of the eyewall is pretty robust!

Its going to be a very close call, and if the storm takes any significant northward jog they will probably just miss out on the SW eyewall. Of course a westward wobble would probably put them firmly in the eyewall with an outside shot at making the eye, but that appears pretty unlikely at this point.

We are in complete agreement! :)

Considering the fact they are confined to a relatively small island with no prospects of readjusting their positions at the last minute, so to speak, I would be pretty happy to catch any portion of the eyewall of this particular storm. For this reason, I suspect they might feel the same.

Of course, we can still hope for a more westward wobble and the substantially more intense conditions. That said, I want to add the important disclaimer that I am not rooting for anyone to be too adversely affected by this storm, or any other, for that matter.

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