Two typhoons heading for eastern China

Having monitored and broadcast world weather for the last six years, there are some things that you don’t see very often. One such case caught my eye today, with two typhoons set to hit the same region in the space of 12 hours.

Two typhoons are currently on track to hit the east coast of China during the next two days, bringing torrential rain, damaging winds and coastal storm surges.

Some places could see in excess of 150mm of rain by the start of the weekend, which will bring a significant risk of flooding.

Typhoon Damrey

This storm is currently passing close to the Japanese island of Kyushu bringing heavy downpours to a place that only recently suffered serious flooding.

As the storm moves out across the East China Sea, it will gain strength as it draws energy from the warm ocean waters. Sustained winds are expected to reach 80mph in the next 12 hours, with stronger gusts.

The latest forecast takes the storm onto the east coast of China just north of Shanghai later on Thursday local time, before it weakens and moves inland thereafter.

Typhoon Saola

This storm is currently passing to the north east of Taiwan where it’s expected to bring in excess of 200mm of rain to the north of the country, which will bring a significant flooding risk, as well as damaging winds.

As the storm moves further out to sea, it will gain strength later on Thursday and is expected to become a category three typhoon with sustained winds of 115mph.

The latest forecast takes Saola onto the east coast of China close to Wenzhou early on Friday with torrential rain, damaging winds and a significant coastal storm surge expected.

Uncertainty

Given the relatively close proximity of the typhoons, the level of uncertainty in the forecast for the next 24 hours is quite high. This is because the closeness of the storms’ paths could mean that they interfere with each other and potentially alter their respective tracks.

Even if the tracks change slightly, one thing remains certain – eastern China will be bracing itself for some severe weather during the next 48 hours.

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Image courtesy of CIMSS