NASA MODIS Image of the Day: March 31, 2012 – Typhoon Pakhar (02W) approaching Vietnam
On March 30, 2011 Typhoon Pakhar (02W) was spinning in the South China Sea, moving slowly westwards on a track towards Vietnam. The first Typhoon of the northern hemisphere in the 2012 season is predicted to make landfall early on April 1 just north of Ho Chi Minh City, affecting approximately 33 million people with strong winds, heavy rains and potential flooding as it passes across Vietnam and Cambodia. The Moderate Resolution Imaging Spectroradiometer (MODIS) instrument on NASA’s Terra satellite captured this true-color image of Typhoon Pakhar on March 30 at 03:20 UTC. Bands of thunderstorms are tightly wrapped around the cloud-filled center as Pakhar takes on the classic apostrophe shape of a strengthening storm. A few hours later, at 09:00 UTC, Pakhar’s maximum sustained winds were near 65 knots (~75 mph/120.4 kph), bringing it to a Category 1 storm on the Saffir-Simpson Hurricane Wind Scale. At 21:00 UTC on March 30, the Joint Typhoon Warning Center (JTWC) issued a warning on the storm, and predicted that Typhoon Pakhar will continue to track generally westward. The storm has good vertical outflow, will be affected by only light vertical wind shear and will pass over waters with warm sea surface temperatures, so it is predicted to maintain current intensity as it approaches the coast. Although Pakhar is predicted to come ashore at Category 1 strength, it should dissipate rapidly as it interacts with the land.
