Typhicane Ioke
The last few years has presented us with its share of unusual tropical storms. These include the first South Atlantic hurricane ever, a season that used up all the letters and then went seven letters into the Greek alphabet (including the one they found after the season was over), and superpowerful Hurricane Katrina. Now it is a typhicane. I defined this non-word a few years ago to mean a tropical storm with winds at least 65 knots straddling the International Date Line. Storms to the west of the date line are called typhoons; those to the east are hurricanes. There have been typhicanes in the past, namely Ele and Huko. They typically have Hawaiian names, since they form in the Central Atlantic, although it would really be something for a storm to form off the Mexican coast and journey all the way over to China.
And so we now have such a storm: Typhicane Ioke. As I type this, it is officially a hurricane, as its center is still is east of 180 degrees. The western parts are now a typhoon, since they are west of 180 degrees, and the storm as a whole is a typhicane. This is one huge storm. It is packing winds of 150 mph or more, and it looks like Katrina on the radar. However, it appears to be threatening nobody and annoying only fish and an occasional ship. The GFDL forecasts it to continue due west, which will cause it to become Super Typhoon Ioke, and at one frame, this typhoon was shown to have 179 knot (206 mph) winds! That is a Category 6 hurricane easily, approaching Category 7. Or it is an F4. It's a big tornado.
Where is Typhoon Ioke going to go? The GFDL suggests it may be headed to Hokkaido island in Japan, but it is too early to tell. Enigmatically, Japan has issued a warning: TYPHOON WARNING, and then describing its winds. From this far out? It is still a hurricane. Maybe they mean interests in the path of the storm; the next little placelet to be hit will be Wake Island.
We will keep a watch on Typhicane Ioke because it is so unusual. But the real threat is now from Tropical Storm Ernesto, which I describe in another blog.
And so we now have such a storm: Typhicane Ioke. As I type this, it is officially a hurricane, as its center is still is east of 180 degrees. The western parts are now a typhoon, since they are west of 180 degrees, and the storm as a whole is a typhicane. This is one huge storm. It is packing winds of 150 mph or more, and it looks like Katrina on the radar. However, it appears to be threatening nobody and annoying only fish and an occasional ship. The GFDL forecasts it to continue due west, which will cause it to become Super Typhoon Ioke, and at one frame, this typhoon was shown to have 179 knot (206 mph) winds! That is a Category 6 hurricane easily, approaching Category 7. Or it is an F4. It's a big tornado.
Where is Typhoon Ioke going to go? The GFDL suggests it may be headed to Hokkaido island in Japan, but it is too early to tell. Enigmatically, Japan has issued a warning: TYPHOON WARNING, and then describing its winds. From this far out? It is still a hurricane. Maybe they mean interests in the path of the storm; the next little placelet to be hit will be Wake Island.
We will keep a watch on Typhicane Ioke because it is so unusual. But the real threat is now from Tropical Storm Ernesto, which I describe in another blog.
posted by Jim at 9:22 PM
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