Tropical Storm Son-Tinh Update #13 [LANDFALL]

Son-Tinh made landfall as a typhoon about 6 hours ago southeast of Hanoi. The system is now rapidly weakening as it interacts with land. Tropical Storm Son-Tinh was last located approximately 80km east of Hanoi. Maximum sustained winds are down to 85kph with gusts of up to 110kph. Son-Tinh is moving northward at 10kph.

IR Image from NRLMRY

Latest satellite image shows the core of Son-Tinh starting to get worse as it moves over land. The system is no longer fully symmetric with convective activity become weaker and much more spread out. Wind reports from Hanoi have ranged from 30 to 60kph which suggests that the wind gradient may be very tight and that the typhoon winds may have only been felt along the coast. Nevertheless, the system continues to bring heavy rains in the region with 200mm of rain already being reported in some areas. As much as 50 to 100mm of rain is still possible today and tomorrow.

Tropical Storm Son-Tinh will continue to weaken and could become a depression later today. It will linger in the Northern Vietnam region for at least another 12 to 24 hours before fully dissipating by tomorrow (Tuesday). After dissipation, Son-Tinh's remnants are forecast to continue bringing rains across Vietnam and even into the southwestern portions of China particularly near Hainan Island.

We'll have another update later this afternoon.
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Issued (2230 UTC) 630am PhT 102912