Typhoon Muifa Update #25

Typhoon Muifa (Formerly Kabayan) has moved closer to Okinawa, located less than 80km south of the Island. Maximum sustained winds are at 155kph gusting to 195kph. Muifa is moving northwestward very slowly at 10kph.

Recent VIS image suggests that Muifa's huge eye has brushed the southern part of Okinawa. Pressure reports from Naha Airport indicated a lowest pressure of around 956hpa! Good news is that the pressure seems to be rising bit by bit, which could indicate the storm center is now finally moving away. The bad news is that Muifa is moving very slowly so these stormy conditions will likely persist for another 12 hours. Naha have already received 120mm of rain and some areas further north have actually received near 200mm already. Rain bands continue to move in towards the island with rain rates ranging from 10-30mm/hr with some pockets of very heavy rain of around 50mm/hr. Expect another 100-200mm to the rainfall total before all this is over.

Latest Radar from JMA

Winds continue to gust around typhoon-force although the island has reported lighter winds these past 2 hours as the eye passes just to the south. As Muifa moves northwestward, its backside will then begin to affect the island and bring another round of strong gusty winds throughout the night. Winds and rains should begin to die down by Saturday morning.

James Reynolds, a known "typhoon-chaser" is actually in Okinawa right now taking videos of Muifa's passage there. You can watch his videos in his Youtube channel HERE

We will have our Video Update for more details on Muifa as well as on TS Merbok coming up in an hour.
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Issued (0730 UTC) 330pm PhT 080511