Typhoon Time

It's been gusty and raining all night but I guess it's really supposed to start late tomorrow.

Taipei, Taiwan Weather Forecast

And a news story on it:

Taiwan Issues Alert as Typhoon Sinlaku Strengthens Over Pacific

By Aaron Sheldrick

Sept. 11 (Bloomberg) -- Taiwanese authorities issued an alert to ships and warned of floods and mudslides as Typhoon Sinlaku strengthened into a Category 4 storm as it churned across the Pacific Ocean toward the island and southern Japan.

The storm may be close to Taiwan by Sept. 14, the Taiwan Weather Bureau said on its Web site. The Japan Meteorological Agency said the southwestern islands of Okinawa may experience heavy rain, floods and high waves as Sinlaku approaches.

The eye of Sinlaku was 398 kilometers (248 miles) southwest of Taitung on the southeastern coast of Taiwan at 2 a.m. local time, the U.S. Navy Joint Typhoon Warning Center said in an advisory on its Web site.

Sinlaku's maximum sustained winds increased to 232 kilometers per hour from 176 kph yesterday, making it a Category 4 storm, the second strongest on the five-step Saffir-Simpson scale of intensity. The storm's winds were gusting to 278 kph.

The typhoon was heading north at 4 kph and is forecast to strengthen further to almost a Category 5 storm with winds of 250 kph by early tomorrow. Waves are as high as 9 meters (30 feet) in the vicinity of Sinlaku's eye, the typhoon center said.

The typhoon is expected to pass between northern Taiwan and Okinawa before swinging northeast and approaching the main islands of Japan by Sept. 16, according to U.S. Navy forecasters.

Sinlaku, the 15th storm of the northwest Pacific cyclone season, is the name of a goddess worshipped on the island of Kosrae in Micronesia, according to the Hong Kong Observatory, which lists tropical cyclone names in use in the Pacific. Japan's weather agency counts it as the 13th.

Another storm to the northeast of Sinlaku is forecast to approach Tokyo later this week, according to the U.S. center.

Tropical Storm 16W was 552 kilometers southeast of the Japanese capital at 3 a.m. Tokyo time today.

The storm's winds were blowing at 65 kph and it was moving west-northwest at 22 kph. Its winds are forecast to strengthen to 83 kph by 3 a.m. tomorrow when it will be closest to Tokyo, according to the U.S. warning center. Japan's weather agency doesn't have information on the storm.

I'm actually looking forward to it so I can say I've experienced a typhoon! :)
Besides, I'm in he city and not the mountains or the coast so I expect just tons of rain and wind and noise.