NASA’s Aqua Satellite spots Typhoon Hato’s Landfall in China

NASA’s Aqua satellite passed over Typhoon Hato just hours after it made landfall in southeastern China. Hato made landfall in mainland China around 0300 UTC on Aug. 23 (11 p.m. EDT on Aug. 22). China’s weather service reported Hato’s landfall occurred in the city of Zhuhai, in Guangdong province.

On Aug. 23 at 2 a.m. EDT (0600 UTC) the Moderate Resolution Imaging Spectroradiometer or MODIS instrument aboard NASA’s Aqua satellite captured a visible image of Hato just three hours after the center of the storm made landfall just west of Hong Kong. The image showed powerful thunderstorms surrounding the center of circulation. In the image the southeastern quadrant of the storm was still over the South China Sea.

On Aug. 23 at 5 a.m. EDT (0900 UTC) the Joint Typhoon Warning Center issued their final warning on Typhoon Hato. At that time, Hato’s maximum sustained winds were near 85 knots (97.8 mph/157.4 kph). It was located just 72 miles west of Hong Kong near 22.2 degrees north latitude and 112.9 degrees east longitude. It was moving to the west-northwest at 16 knots (18.4 mph/29.6 kph).

Hato was weakening as it continued tracking over land. The Hong Kong Observatory (HKO) canceled all signals (warnings at 8:40 p.m. local time. HKO noted “With Hato weakening and moving away from Hong Kong, local winds have further moderated. As there are still swells at first, members of the public should remain on the alert.”