The latest tropical storm in the western Pacific formed on Sunday, and is poised to make landfall in mainland China on Tuesday, near typhoon strength (74 mph). Two NASA satellites captured different views of its clouds.
Tropical Storm Koppu, the sixteenth tropical cyclone in the western Pacific Ocean, also deemed “16W,” had sustained winds near 69 mph (60 knots) today, September 14. Koppu is expected to strengthen just a little more before it makes landfall in China. It was centered near 20.6 north and 114.6 east, about 130 nautical miles south-southeast of Hong Kong, China. Koppu is forecast to move west-northwest near 10 mph and will make landfall on September 15. It is expected to dissipate within one or two days after landfall.
NASA’s Terra satellite flew over Tropical Storm Koppu late last night at 03:20 UTC (11:20 p.m. EDT), and using infrared imagery from the Moderate Imaging Spectroradiometer (MODIS) instrument, it captured a well organized tropical storm of the southeastern China coast. Landfall will bring heavy rains, heavy surf conditions along the coast and gusty winds.
Earlier, NASA’s Aqua satellite flew over Koppu and used the Atmospheric Infrared Sounder (AIRS) instrument to read the temperatures of the storm’s clouds at 1:41 a.m. EDT. AIRS showed very cold, high thunderstorm clouds, as cold or colder than -63 Fahrenheit.
Koppu will continue to track generally west-northwestward under the influence of the subtropical ridge until it makes landfall northwest of the Leizhou Peninsula during the day tomorrow.