Typhoon Prapiroon Update #7

Typhoon Prapiroon (Bagyong Nina) has maintained its strength as it begins to move north across the Philippine Sea. The storm was last located approximately 660km east southeast of Basco, Batanes or about 740km south of Okinawa. Maximum sustained winds remain at 165kph with gusts of up to 215kph. Prapiroon is moving north northwestward at 5kph.

IR Image from NRLMRY

Latest satellite image shows that the eye of Prapiroon remains small and rugged. The eyewall seems to be struggling maintaining itself together. Nevertheless, convective activity surrounding the eye remains strong. Conditions are still favorable for development, as well, and should remain that way for another 1 to 2 days.

Prapiroon is now moving north as we forecasted yesterday. JMA and JTWC are still in disagreement over the eventual track of Prapiroon. For now, though, we are still going with the majority of the models and are thinking Prapiroon will keep moving northward and then turn northeastward away from land. However, please note that we're still uncertain with the forecast and so residents along the Ryukyu Islands--from Ishigakijima and Yaeyema to Okinawa--should continue to closely monitor the developments of this system.

We'll have another update on Prapiroon later this afternoon.
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Issued (2330 UTC) 730am PhT 101212