Typhoon Francisco

On October 17, 2013, Typhoon Francisco skirted Guam, but the storm was on a trajectory that could bring it toward Japan next week. The Moderate Resolution Imaging Spectroradiometer (MODIS) on NASA’s Aqua satellite acquired this image of the storm at 2:05 p.m. local time (4:05 UTC).

At the time, the storm had maximum sustained winds near 85 knots (157 kilometers/hour or 98 miles/hour) and was expected to strengthen. Francisco’s center was located about 147 nautical miles southwest of Guam, near 12.5° North and 143.1° East.

Weather Underground’s Jeff Masters noted that two of the best models predicted that Francisco will hit Japan on October 23-24, though model results are still quite uncertain that far into the future. This is the 27th named storm in the Pacific in 2013.

1. References

2. AccuWeather (2013, October 17) Typhoon Francisco to Strengthen, Track Toward Japan Next Week. Accessed September 30, 2013.
3. Joint Typhoon Warning Center (2013, October 17) Typhoon 26W. Accessed October 17, 2013.
4. Weather Underground (2013, October 17) Category 2 Francisco Brushing Guam, and is a Long-Range Threat to Japan. Accessed October 17, 2013.

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NASA images courtesy Jeff Schmaltz LANCE/EOSDIS MODIS Rapid Response Team, GSFC. Caption by Adam Voiland.

Published October 17, 2013
Data acquired October 17, 2013

Source:

Aqua > MODIS

Topic:

Atmosphere > Atmospheric Phenomena > Typhoons

Collection:

MODIS Rapid Response