Khanun continues slow crawl toward mainland Japan
A powerful tropical cyclone is churning in the western Pacific Ocean, and it could deliver a one-two punch to a portion of Japan this week. This comes right on the heels of Typhoon Doksuri, which unleashed feet of rain in China resulting in historic flooding around Beijing.
Khanun developed way back on July 24th west of Guam and strengthened the weekend of the 30th as it moved northwestward across the Philippine Sea. Khanun reached a peak intensity equivalent to that of a Category 4 hurricane on the Saffir-Simpson Hurricane Wind Scale at the start of August.
Just this past week, Khanun dealt a blow to Japan's central Ryukyu Islands, bringing wind gusts as high as 87 mph (140 km/h) to Okinawa on Tuesday.
At least two people have died and 62 were injured in Okinawa and Kagoshima due to the once powerful typhoon, according to Reuters. Additionally, Khanun knocked out power for 30% of homes across the island, which is located approximately 900 miles (1,448 km) southwest of Tokyo.
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This image shows Khanun swirling south of mainland Japan Monday afternoon, local time. (AccuWeather Enhanced RealVue™ Satellite) |
AccuWeather meteorologists warn that the future track of the storm will bring flooding rainfall and damaging winds to portions of Japan as it slowly meanders across the West Pacific.
"Khanun will continue to track very slowly eastward with some fluctuation in intensity early this week, local time. Then a turn to the northeast then north is expected which can bring the storm across Kyushu or far western Honshu, Japan, around midweek," AccuWeather Meteorologist Alyssa Glenny said.
"The slow movement of the storm will result in excessive rainfall across the Ryukyu Islands which can produce significant flooding," Glenny said.
From Tuesday to Thursday, local time, rainfall has already reached 13.55 inches (344.2 mm) in Okinawa. Additional rainfall through the week can bring rain totals to 15-20 inches (350-500 mm) across the island. An AccuWeather Local StormMax™ rainfall of 36 inches (900 mm) is expected across Japan.
As Khanun begins to turns more northerly, rainfall of 4-8 inches (100-200 mm) can impact southwest Japan into early Thursday, local time. Rainfall amounts of 4-8 inches (100-200 mm) can spread to the eastern coast of the Korean Peninsula by mid- to late week, local time.
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"Wind gusts of 80-100 mph (120-160 km/h) are possible across southwest Japan through Wednesday, local time, with gusts of 60-80 mph (90-120 km/h) possible northward along the eastern coast of the Korean Peninsula by late week," Glenny said.
These winds can result in structural damage, downed trees and power outages.
Due to the impacts of heavy rain and strong winds, Khanun is a 3 on the AccuWeather RealImpact™ Scale for Tropical Cyclones for Japan.
AccuWeather meteorologists are closely monitoring an area in the West Pacific Ocean north of the Mariana Islands that could spawn another tropical system in the coming days.
"The intensity and track of any such feature will be influenced by its proximity to Khanun, but a general northerly track is most probable. There is a small chance that any potential system could brush eastern Honshu, Japan, between late week or next weekend," Glenny said.
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