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iCyclone Typhoon Chasing Expedition - Fall 2013


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Interesting-- from the JTWC's discussion:

 

NUMERICAL MODEL GUIDANCE REMAINS DIVIDED BETWEEN A SHARP WESTWARD TURN IN THE NEXT 12 TO 24 HOURS AND A GRADUAL SHIFT TO A NORTHWESTWARD TRACK. THIS FORECAST REMAINS NORTH OF THE CONSENSUS BASED ON THE PERSISTENCE OF THE STORM MAINTAINING A NORTHWARD TRACK. THE FORECAST IS BIASED IN FAVOR OF THE ECMWF MODEL SOLUTION. GIVEN THE LARGE SPREAD IN THE MODEL GUIDANCE, THERE IS A LARGE UNCERTAINTY IN THE SPEED AND WESTWARD EXTENT OF THE STR, LEADING TO LOW CONFIDENCE IN THE FORECAST TRACK.

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06Z shows a very sharp W turn and sticks firmly to the MMY solution.

 

You mean the 18z GFS? That 12 time shift screwing you utc time too? :lol: But, to your question earlier, I think that Fitow will likely cross somewhere near or just N of MMY but likely not all the way to Naha.

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You mean the 18z GFS? That 12 time shift screwing you utc time too? :lol: But, to your question earlier, I think that Fitow will likely cross somewhere near or just N of MMY but likely not all the way to Naha.

 

Lolz, yeah.  I meant 18Z.  I fixed it.  Thanks for the inputs-- going to talk with the guys now.

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Agreed, get on the next plane there.  And Josh, on the E end of the island there is a narrow spit of land a good 10-15 meters above sea level with a well travled road that leads to a lighthouse. It looks like a popular tourist spot and the winds/view/wave action should be EPIC.

 

Google Map link: http://goo.gl/maps/gJn95

Google Maps Street View Link: http://goo.gl/maps/SndiC

 

I know that area well, I was there with Mark for typhoon Songda in 2011. It had peaked earlier as a cat. 5 and the waves were, as you can imagine, mind blowingly immense.

 

Tough call this morning regarding whether to jump to Miyako, model consensus certainly suggests it's the right thing to do!

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Agree with wxmeddler about track.

 

Actually the GFS had the Nward motion in its run...18z has a N motion the first 3 hours, then it changes more to the NW...which should be now

It's not easy to track with that wobbly ragged eye...but it looks like there's a slight west component in the last couple of frames. Should be more confident in an hour or 2

 

Thanks, Jorge!  It's great to get an informed, objective viewpoint on this, because we were driving ourselves batsh*t crazy over breakfast trying ascertain whether a W turn was happening, or whether we were imagining it.

 

Very interesting thing you pointed out-- that the GFS was showing the N motion.

 

So, Jorge, do you think that hard left turn toward Miyako-jima looks plausible?

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Good morning James! (my name too, ;))

 

While probably not taking a westward turn right now, it definitely is slowing down. Which as all good TC chasers know, it's about ready to change direction. What are your flight options to MMY today?

Is it slowing down? If you are looking at the floaters you'll notice the timestamps from the earliest frames are closer to each other in time, so it gives the impression of slowing down. I still want to see a couple of more frames to be sure there's a definite westward component to the motion and not just some artifact of the wobbly, ragged eye. I still think there's a bit of westward motion now.

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Is it slowing down? If you are looking at the floaters you'll notice the timestamps from the earliest frames are closer to each other in time, so it gives the impression of slowing down. I still want to see a couple of more frames to be sure there's a definite westward component to the motion and not just some artifact of the wobbly, ragged eye. I still think there's a bit of westward motion now.

 

Yeah, I noticed the frame rate increased with the visible scans but I think it is slowing just a tad. Need another hour or two to confirm.

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Btw, being slower than forecasted probably would increase the probabilities of a more leftward track...there's no doubt a ridge is going to eventually build, and it's a ridge that will stay put for a long time, hence all the W Moving cyclones the models are spitting. this means that the latitude gain will be mostly blocked, and the track will be dictated mostly by the orientation of said ridge...which looks like a it will allow a mostly WNW track...thinking about it, that's why some models show the sudden turn to the west

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Hey, guys!  We're in Miyako-jima (24.8N 125.3E).  it's a tiny, isolated Japanese Island at . The 00Z GFS suggests the core of FITOW will be raking us hard late tomorrow night-- in about 30 hours.  Hard to know what's going to happen, but this island seems our best bet-- at least for now.  If it moves more N, we can always bail and fly back to OKA tonight.  Full update soon!

 

post-19-0-38314300-1380864329_thumb.png

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Japan is 9 hours ahead of UTC, so does that mean at least the beginning of the storm will be in the afternoon?

 

 

Just thinking about video.  One thing I have noticed before from Typhoon Hunter video, they seem to use underground powerlines more than we do in the US/Mexico, so the lighting is usually decent even for night time storms.

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Miyako-jima is getting really raked. Given the satellite imagery earlier today, I am astonished at the severity of it, and James is surprised, too. The wind is just screaming-- total eyewall conditions. You can't walk on streets that are parallel with the flow of the wind-- you'll get totally knocked down or blown across the intersection.

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Miyako-jima is getting really raked. Given the satellite imagery earlier today, I am astonished at the severity of it, and James is surprised, too. The wind is just screaming-- total eyewall conditions. You can't walk on streets that are parallel with the flow of the wind-- you'll get totally knocked down or blown across the intersection.

 

20131005.0941.coriolis.37pct37h37v.22W.F

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