Typhoon Phanfone Batters And Soaks Japan

Typhoon Phanfone Batters And Soaks Japan

Phanfone was a powerful super typhoon with sustained wind speed estimated at 130 kts ( 150 mph) as it approached Japan but had weakened to a category one typhoon with sustained winds of about 70 kts (81 mph) as is passed near Tokyo. Phanfone's track and locations when the tropical cyclone was near Japan are shown overlaid in white.

The TRMM- based, near-real time Multi-satellite Precipitation Analysis (TMPA) at the NASA Goddard Space Flight Center has been measuring the distribution of precipitation over the tropics. TMPA based rainfall totals are shown here for the period from September 28 to October 6, 2014 during which Phanfone formed east of Guam and traveled to Japan. The typhoon dropped rainfall over much of Japan but rainfall was particularly heavy near Phanfone's track along the southeastern coast of the islands. This analysis indicated that Phanfone dropped the greatest amount of rainfall in central Japan west of Tokyo where rainfall totals greater than 275 mm (10.8 inches) were found. This analysis found some rainfall totals above 300 mm (11.8 inches) over the Pacific Ocean southeast of Japan.