"Super-Typhoon" Usagi

[Randy W]

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Super Typhoon Usagi nears Philippines, Taiwan

 

The strongest storm on the planet so far this year is rumbling across the Western Pacific near Taiwan and the Philippines, prompting authorities to issue warnings to residents in vulnerable areas.

Packing winds as strong as 260 kilometers per hour (162 mph) on Friday, Super Typhoon Usagi is forecast to plow through the Luzon Strait that lies between Taiwan and the Philippines on Saturday.

 

AccuWeather has an excellent, and frequently updated, satellite image.

 

My wife didn't know about this when I told her a little while ago. We are at 300 ft elevation, and surrounded by 1000 ft mountains, which seem to pretty well protect us from the winds. Yulin has never seen hurricane-force winds, they tell me.

 

http://www.accuweather.com/en/cn/yulin/58362/satellite/58362

 

Right now, it's still off the east of the AccuWeather map (in the Luzon Strait), but the outer edge is approaching Hong Kong.

[Guest ExChinaExpat]

Yeah, saw this in the online news last night. I'll be weathering this one out in Guangzhou, which by current projections will face a direct hit. Fortunately, were a bit inland here from Hong Kong. It's been too hot and humid here lately, so hopefully this will cool things off a bit.

 

Doesn't appear that most of the local people and news stations are paying too much attention.

[Randy W]

Yeah, saw this in the online news last night. I'll be weathering this one out in Guangzhou, which by current projections will face a direct hit. Fortunately, were a bit inland here from Hong Kong. It's been too hot and humid here lately, so hopefully this will cool things off a bit.

 

Doesn't appear that most of the local people and news stations are paying too much attention.

 

 

Good to see you're back in China - stay safe. We've had an all but non-existent summer thanks in part to the tropical storms and hurricanes. Seems like it (the temperatures) didn't really start heating up until earlier this month.

[Guest ExChinaExpat]

 

Yeah, saw this in the online news last night. I'll be weathering this one out in Guangzhou, which by current projections will face a direct hit. Fortunately, were a bit inland here from Hong Kong. It's been too hot and humid here lately, so hopefully this will cool things off a bit.

 

Doesn't appear that most of the local people and news stations are paying too much attention.

 

 

Good to see you're back in China - stay safe. We've had an all but non-existent summer thanks in part to the tropical storms and hurricanes. Seems like it (the temperatures) didn't really start heating up until earlier this month.

 

 

 

Lei Ho to ya. I arrived in China early last month, and did a little traveling. I'm living in GZ now for a little while anyway. It's a crowded city with hot muggy weather and lots of short people who talk funny and eat even more often than other parts of China. Is that possible? Ha, yes, so it seems. I did try eating bamboo worms a few weeks ago. Mighty good actually with a glass of beer.

[Randy W]

 

 

Yeah, saw this in the online news last night. I'll be weathering this one out in Guangzhou, which by current projections will face a direct hit. Fortunately, were a bit inland here from Hong Kong. It's been too hot and humid here lately, so hopefully this will cool things off a bit.

 

Doesn't appear that most of the local people and news stations are paying too much attention.

 

 

Good to see you're back in China - stay safe. We've had an all but non-existent summer thanks in part to the tropical storms and hurricanes. Seems like it (the temperatures) didn't really start heating up until earlier this month.

 

 

 

Lei Ho to ya. I arrived in China early last month, and did a little traveling. I'm living in GZ now for a little while anyway. It's a crowded city with hot muggy weather and lots of short people who talk funny and eat even more often than other parts of China. Is that possible? Ha, yes, so it seems. I did try eating bamboo worms a few weeks ago. Mighty good actually with a glass of beer.

 

 

I hear very little Cantonese around here - people speak Yulinhua and Mandarin. Jiaying says they didn't learn Cantonese until around age 18. 'Ni hao' sounds the same to me in Yulinhua, but with more of a 'bark' to it - I don't get it and probably shouldn't try. 'Hello' works very well for the most part.

 

Looks like the projection carries it right over us as well.

 

http://www.washingtonpost.com/blogs/capital-weather-gang/files/2013/09/wp17131.gif

[Guest ExChinaExpat]

I have very little interest to learn Cantonese. Picked up a few words and phrases and taking care not to let my brain explode, which is easy at my age. Mandarin is hard enough, without 8-tones of unintelligible Cantonese speak. haha.

 

The locals tell me that most typhoons lose their punch over Taiwan and the mountains around Hong Kong, but the track looks like is heading right for HK. We will see. Any rain is welcome here now, as it's crazy hot. At first, the weather seemed similar to Florida, but I now revise it to be just this side of hell.

[Mick]

The last four years we lived in China were spent in Shantou, which is right on the coast in northeast Guangdong. We had several tropical storms and one big hurricane when we were there. During the time the hurricane hit, Li was back in her hometown for a visit so I weathered it alone. Our building was doing a major shake, rattle, and roll. I was in far worse, however, what growing up in Florida and, as an adult, living 15 years in Miami. I was down there in '92 when Andrew hit - now that was a storm my friends. Hopefully things don't get that bad with this storm, but 162 mph winds ain't nothing to take lightly.

[Guest ExChinaExpat]

The last four years we lived in China were spent in Shantou, which is right on the coast in northeast Guangdong. We had several tropical storms and one big hurricane when we were there. During the time the hurricane hit, Li was back in her hometown for a visit so I weathered it alone. Our building was doing a major shake, rattle, and roll. I was in far worse, however, what growing up in Florida and, as an adult, living 15 years in Miami. I was down there in '92 when Andrew hit - now that was a storm my friends. Hopefully things don't get that bad with this storm, but 162 mph winds ain't nothing to take lightly.

 

Right Mick, Andrew woke Florida up in big way to just how much damage can be done by sustained winds, rain, and storm surge. I also lived in Florida many years in Jacksonville, Tallahasse, and Orlando and saw many hurricanes and tropical storms. I recall laying in a hospital bed in Hong Kong in late 2011 when a Typhoon struck. The power fortunately remained on, but the rain and strong winds picked up anything not tied down. It's an eerie feeling when it goes on and on.

[Mick]

 

The last four years we lived in China were spent in Shantou, which is right on the coast in northeast Guangdong. We had several tropical storms and one big hurricane when we were there. During the time the hurricane hit, Li was back in her hometown for a visit so I weathered it alone. Our building was doing a major shake, rattle, and roll. I was in far worse, however, what growing up in Florida and, as an adult, living 15 years in Miami. I was down there in '92 when Andrew hit - now that was a storm my friends. Hopefully things don't get that bad with this storm, but 162 mph winds ain't nothing to take lightly.

 

Right Mick, Andrew woke Florida up in big way to just how much damage can be done by sustained winds, rain, and storm surge. I also lived in Florida many years in Jacksonville, Tallahasse, and Orlando and saw many hurricanes and tropical storms. I recall laying in a hospital bed in Hong Kong in late 2011 when a Typhoon struck. The power fortunately remained on, but the rain and strong winds picked up anything not tied down. It's an eerie feeling when it goes on and on.

 

 

August 24, 1992 is a date I shall never forget. That was the day Andrew paid a visit to Dade County. Winds began kicking up pretty strong around 1 am but all hell broke loose around 3;30 or so. The last report from the National Hurricane Center, which was about two miles from my house, had the winds at 170 mph. That was right before the Hurricane Center itself got blown into a pile of rubble. The worst part was after the storm. We were without power almost three months and believe me, Miami ain't no place to be without air conditioning, especially in August and September. Gunfire, looters, choppers in the air all night long for weeks - I thought I was back in Nam on more than one occasion.

[amberjack1234]

Of course I was not there Mick but remember it well. We weren't sure the we were not going to get it. I know that there was a complete Air Force base lost. As you know NC is no stranger to hurricanes either the way we stick right out into the Atlantic. Been a good years this year so far, knock on wood. Everybody up this way with a hammer suddenly became a carpenter. Several of my friends went down there but were not allowed to work because they were not licensed. Everybody out to make a quick buck. Plywood and lumber went sky high here and has never come down. You know once it's up and everybody is making much more money and people are still buying it they will keep the price of it up.

 

Larry

[Guest ExChinaExpat]

Current predictions are saying Usagi will strike HK as a Category 1, 2, or possibly 3. I live in the southern part of GZ, in the Liwan district. The locals don't seem to be paying much attention. Either the Chinese government is suppressing the news, or the people have seen this kind of thing many times before and have no cause for alarm.

 

http://i41.tinypic.com/1jmgkk.jpg

[Randy W]

Current predictions are saying Usagi will strike HK as a Category 1, 2, or possibly 3. I live in the southern part of GZ, in the Liwan district. The locals don't seem to be paying much attention. Either the Chinese government is suppressing the news, or the people have seen this kind of thing many times before and have no cause for alarm.

 

 

It's in Xinhua - http://news.xinhuanet.com/english/china/2013-09/22/c_132738211.htm - but the eye seems to be pretty poorly defined now and the hurricane seems to be breaking up almost as soon as it comes across any land. It almost seems to be turning into a non-event, but they are closing the Hong Kong airport tonight (Sunday)

 

Still, they're aware of it and are taking precautions

 

Usagi is expected to hammer south China's Pearl River Delta some time between Sunday afternoon and Monday morning.

 

Usagi was 660 km southeast of Hong Kong at 5 p.m. Saturday, packing a wind speed of 187 km per hour at its center. It was moving northwest at a speed of up to 20 km per hour, the National Meteorological Center said in a latest update.

 

The agency issued the highest level of alert for Usagi, warning that it will bring gales and downpours to southern and southeastern coastal areas.

 

The center said Usagi would bring strong storms to the east of Taiwan and the coastal areas of Guangdong, Zhejiang and Fujian provinces on Saturday and Sunday.

 

China Southern Airlines said it would cancel flights in and out of Hong Kong on Sunday and cancel flights to Shantou, Zhuhai and Shenzhen in the Pearl River delta as of 10 a.m. Sunday as local airports could be battered by heavy rains and strong gales starting Sunday noon.

 

The airlines would notify affected passengers through phone calls, text messages and emails, it said.

 

Meanwhile, the Baiyun International Airport in Guangzhou, the capital city of Guangdong, has issued a yellow alert over the approaching typhoon and stepped up support measures to guarantee safety and deal with emergencies.

 

Edited September 22, 2013 by Randy W (see edit history)

[Andelu]

We are beginning to feel the winds in Shenzhen. Hong Kong just raised the T8 and the wort is expected to be about 2-4am. Stay dry...

[Randy W]

We are beginning to feel the winds in Shenzhen. Hong Kong just raised the T8 and the wort is expected to be about 2-4am. Stay dry...

 

 

Looks like the eye came ashore north of Hong Kong. I'll bet Shantou is getting hit pretty hard.

 

We had a little wind from a feeder band a little while ago.

[Guest ExChinaExpat]

In Guangzhou, at 7:13 AM local time, it's so far nothing more than a nice rain storm with a little wind. Nice and cool here now. Searched a little on the NET and cannot find any live or regularly updated views of the current location.