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Typhoon heads toward Okinawa

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Oh well here we go again. Fortunately down here the overwhelming majority of buildings are steel reinforced concrete so if power doesn't go out it shouldn't be too bad. Shame though that it's scheduled to hit late in the afternoon and be gone by tomorrow AM............

0 ( +1 / -1 )

Long time Okinawa no Typhoon..I stay OKinawa City we never lose power since they put the cables underground..Feel sorry for Yomitan(11pm power off if Typhoon) and all others maybe 2 days no power...but SOBA time and BABY time LOL..

good luck Japan if it turns your way

1 ( +3 / -2 )

Looks like I might be getting a day off on Wednesday, then. I do hope our venerable retired community stay off their roofs this time, and don't go cycling up canal paths.

2 ( +5 / -3 )

i Checked and if nothing changes it will hit Kobe on wednesday :(

0 ( +1 / -1 )

I do hope our venerable retired community stay off their roofs this time, and don't go cycling up canal paths.

Ivan - you might as well ask a rooster not to crow at sunrise. Its what they do.

6 ( +7 / -2 )

dear Japanese people: DO NOT CLIMB ON YOUR ROOF IN A TYPHOON

7 ( +8 / -1 )

Zichi that Typhoon will have no where near that strength when it gets that far north. I used to live in Okinawa and the Typhoon power there as opposed to when it hits the main islands (I live in Kyushu now) is like night and day. The further south the more powerful the storm is. The current expected winds by the time it reaches the Sendai are are max gust to 35m/s compared to 60-70 now.

3 ( +4 / -1 )

I already told my (Japanese) father-in-law not to climb on his roof in the middle of the storm, but he did not seem to understand what I was talking about...

3 ( +5 / -2 )

This is a Super Typhoon

Keyword here is it WAS a super typhoon, typhoons lose quite a bit of their strength when they start making their turn northward. The ocean south of Okinawa is much warmer and that is where the typhoons typically pick up their strength, as they head north into cooler waters and get caught into the jet stream they dissipate rather quickly.

I've been in typhoons where the max wind speed was over 80m/s and concrete steel reinforced telephone poles were blown over. This one is a baby in comparison, and since the "left" side of the typhoon is predicted to hit the island it wont shouldn't be all that bad.

BUT one still has to take precautions. It is unusual to hear of people down here getting injured in a typhoon because they are used to them, but on the other hand because they are used to them people tend to act many times like nothings going on.

1 ( +3 / -2 )

I already told my (Japanese) father-in-law not to climb on his roof in the middle of the storm, but he did not seem to understand what I was talking about...

Taifu no tokini yane ni noboru na!

It seems to me that a lot of elderly folks in mainland like to climb on their roof's during a typhoon. Go figure.

1 ( +5 / -4 )

Hmmm.....the strength of the typhoons we get seems to inversely proportional to how much I prepare. I'll go crazy today taking down the laundry poles, bringing in the garden furniture, stocking up the fridge, tying down the rose bushes and testing the flashlights, so it won't come ;-P

0 ( +1 / -1 )

Yubaru,

At the moment the current wind speeds classify it has a Super Typhoon I think the last one was 2004? No24? That one caught me in the open.

Actually no it doesn't it was a super typhoon yesterday.

http://weather.kadenaforcesupport.com/update/TyphTimeLine.html

-1 ( +0 / -1 )

Wow... this is quite an early Typhoon.... most hit between Sept and November.

-2 ( +0 / -2 )

I'll even go line up for bread, that ought to do it!

People panic so, and we have only one large supermarket near my neighborhood so when a typhoon or snow is predicted the line for the parking lot goes round the block. I've gone in around 6pm and found the bread, meat and milk sections empty.

-1 ( +0 / -1 )

It started has a Super Typhoon

Zichi, typhoons do not "start" as super typhoons, they start as a tropical disturbance then a tropical depression and build from there.

0 ( +1 / -1 )

The "roof climbing" thing is happening because the wind sometimes damages the roof and the rainwater gets directly into the house. Some people think "I'll fix it before it gets serious" and get up there, to fix the small hole. The problems start when they get on the slippery roof and the wind gets stronger...

1 ( +1 / -0 )

Better be safe than sorry. It'll pick up speed, lose power, but it's still a really big storm so take care.

1 ( +2 / -1 )

Will it be a heavy rain typhoon or a mainly windy typhoon?

My tent garage was half twisted and torn away in the last strong winds. Will it finally take off this time, I wonder?

0 ( +0 / -0 )

Just waxed my boards to head to the surf

-1 ( +2 / -3 )

The first typhoon is exciting but all the rest are just a drag. Okinawa had a small but nasty one last summer that blew my back gate to splinters when the wind unusually shifted around to come from the north, and it caused a lot of damage on the island. And then about 3 years before that there was one that took me a week to clean up garden debris. That one might have been a "super".

1 ( +1 / -0 )

Bogi:

I already told my (Japanese) father-in-law not to climb on his roof in the middle of the storm, but he did not seem to understand what I was talking about...

hahahaha!

-2 ( +0 / -2 )

I hope it doesn't blow my satellite dish offline. Not in the middle of Euro 2012. Maybe I could ask a senior to climb up and fix it.

2 ( +3 / -1 )

Unlike the first three of the year it looks like this one's going to hit us pretty good. Let's hope you guys are right about it being downgraded, and that it'll dissipate further as it makes landfall. I wouldn't mind a day off work, but of course I don't want anyone to suffer or there to be any damage.

Typhoon five has just formed south of China, but not sure if it'll head our way or what it will be by that time.

-1 ( +1 / -2 )

When I lived on Okinawa the typhoons were always welcome. Their heavy rains filled the reservoirs, which were regularly low of water during the dry season. So hopefully you guys on Okinawa enjoy the rain while your reservoirs fill up. Then you can have regular water hours into the summer months.

0 ( +0 / -0 )

Could be the perfect excuse to take shelter in an English pub, with a few pints of Speckled Hen, and watch England hammer Ukraine (4am Wed. morning), then pray to God for the email from work saying its a day-off!

0 ( +1 / -1 )

Why has JT kept the name secret???

Get ready for "Guchor the Typhoon"

Yes, this typhoon was named "グチョル" (by whom I don't know...)

-1 ( +1 / -2 )

Haven't they figured out how to stop typhoons or turn them around yet?

1 ( +1 / -0 )

Eek, I am flying from Narita on Wednesday. Not happy.

-1 ( +0 / -1 )

Lowly: "Yes, this typhoon was named "グチョル" (by whom I don't know...)"

Since 2000 the world meteorological systems have been using a system to name all the typhoons in the Western Pacific according to Asian names, which 12 or so countries submitted. The idea was to be better able to track the storms and coordinate, and not every country followed the system up to then (some still may not). Imagine the potential havoc in traffic alone if one nation is calling it No. 4 and another No. 1 because it's the first to affect them.

The last one was 'Mawar', Malay for 'Rose'. Most are based on nature, although some are named after gods and some physical characteristics. 'Guchol' comes from Micronesia and is the Yapese word for the spice Tumeric. Here's a simple list. I use it often, and while the names are slowly trickling into Japanese news most Japanese are unaware of the new system and it gives you a chance to ask them some trivia: http://www.jma.go.jp/jma/jma-eng/jma-center/rsmc-hp-pub-eg/tyname.html

0 ( +1 / -1 )

There are far more detailed lists, by the way, including a VERY comprehensive one in Wickipedia, but this one is easy enough to follow. We are currently into column 5 (works like hurricanes in that the list rotates), which means typhoon No. 5 (if it develops into a full-fledged storm will be the Tagalog word Talas -- which means 'sharpness', or 'acuteness'. The last time Talas rolled around it did some damage in Japan, so let's hope it misses us this time around.

0 ( +1 / -1 )

the one down here on okinawa is called Typhoon 05W (Guchol). were is typhoon Guchor?

-1 ( +0 / -1 )

Takuma,

Guchor is Guchol's evil twin brother, he is taking over and is bent on destruction. (The Japanese is グチョルand I romanized it different, is all.)

Smith,

Naruhodo. So we are actually in Typhoon Turmeric. Or ウコンのあらし? This is even better! Thx for the link.

Naming them makes much more sense. Although, I like the US system where they alternate female and male names and go in alphabetical order, so you can remember the order of the storms, like numbering them. Not that the meteorologists care what I think.

0 ( +0 / -0 )

PS

It is now raining in Kansai...

0 ( +0 / -0 )

Now mild winds in Okinawa...watching the women's soccer team play against USA. GO JAPAN!! but I m American. "When in Rome, do as the Romans" lol

-1 ( +0 / -1 )

Lowly: "Naming them makes much more sense. Although, I like the US system where they alternate female and male names and go in alphabetical order, so you can remember the order of the storms, like numbering them. Not that the meteorologists care what I think."

Yeah, "Typhoon Tumeric" if you want to be literal -- but takes a bit of the magic out, don't you think? By the way, the US has names submitted as well but unlike when they the EASTERN Pacific these names are all based on nature, and I think from native Hawai'ian.

Anyway, you do of course know the system was not always alternating between male and female but was once only female names (which, btw, Japan adopted for a while in the '50s and suffered from 'typhoon Jane'), but you can imagine that as society progressed women got tired of the idea that strong winds and destructive natural forces be akin only women. Hence, it changed.

I prefer the Asian names. Yeah, you're right about the ease in alphabetization, and granted calling a typhoon 'rose' or what have you might seem a bit of a misnomer, but there's more creativity to it.

Let's hope Tumeric gives us a bit of wind but not too much show.

1 ( +2 / -1 )

The latest is that it may hit Osaka head on.

They are saying that a June typhoon like this is the first in 8 years, and to have another right behind it for a double hit is even more unusual.

1 ( +1 / -0 )

nandakandamanda: That would be No. 5, or Talas, is like I said soon behind Guchol. The path it's taking, though, would make it a pretty amazing turn to hit Japan and not just float out into the Pacific. Are you in Osaka? I am as well, and it is extremely rare we even get a red light (warning), and even then it's never much. I've been here for a long, long time now and fortunately we never get hit in Osaka, but I guess it's bound to happen. I'm not about to jump on my roof and check out the shingles, but if it hits I might move some things away from the windows.

Oh, and keep the thumbs down coming from the haters whom I teach about the Asian names!

1 ( +2 / -1 )

yes, fun with storm names.

Female names was probably nothing unequal, but just a traditional English tendency to name nature things as female. Like ships are always "she".

But グチョルsounds like a Godzilla sequel.

1 ( +1 / -0 )

Lowly: "Female names was probably nothing unequal, but just a traditional English tendency to name nature things as female. Like ships are always "she"."

Dude... it was an excuse to akin rage and destruction on a woman's foul mood. As for sounding like a Godzilla sequel, do you actually know what Guchol sounds like in Yapese? Here's a hint... it's not the Katakana-発音 you have in mind and more than モッスラ sounds like the moth-like beast in Godzilla movies. Might be just as harmful, though. But no nuclear disasters to form a sea-monster to help us against it... or wait!

1 ( +1 / -0 )

Typhoons are the lifeblood of Okinawa! They provide the rain and have been considered a blessing since ancient times. Do be careful gentle readers in Okinawa, remember n streaking in the high winds! Zichi and Ivan, please be careful, flying debris can catch you off guard. It would be sad if you are taken down by a flying Oji-san. Remember it is more than the 85 pounds but the force behind him.

0 ( +0 / -0 )

Typhoon 05W (Guchol) has left the area.

0 ( +0 / -0 )

But no nuclear disasters to form a sea-monster to help us against it... or wait!

The quote of the day!

A godzilla sized unagi to save Japan!

0 ( +0 / -0 )

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