NASA MODIS Image of the Day: August 6, 2011 – Typhoon Muifa (11W) in the Philippine Sea
NASA’s Terra satellite captured a stunning image of Typhoon Muifa moving through the Philippine Sea on August 4 at 2:20 UTC.
Muifa is expected to bring Kadena Air Force Base rough surf, heavy rainfall and gusty winds as it passes by.
At 1500 UTC on August 4, Muifa had maximum sustained winds near 90 knots (103 mph) and was located about 100 nautical miles south-southeast of Kadena Air Force Base, Japan. It was near 25.0 North and 128.3 East and moving to the west-northwest at 6 knots (7 mph). The Moderate Resolution Imaging Spectroradiometer (MODIS) instrument aboard Terra captured an image of Muifa that showed that clouds were filling in the eye. At the time of the image, Muifa’s northwestern edge was already over Kadena Air Force Base. Infrared imagery from the Atmospheric Infrared Sounder instrument (that also flies aboard NASA’s Terra satellite) showed that the eye had filled in with clouds, but there was still banding of thunderstorms around the center of the storm. Muifa is expected to graze eastern China and brush by Shanghai over the next several days as it moves to the west-northwest. The Joint Typhoon Warning Center (JTWC) predicted that the typhoon would reach maximum intensity just south of Shanghai, then begin to weaken before making landfall north of the Gulf of Bohai, where it is expected to quickly dissipate over land.
