| Typhoon Rammasun Gathers Power on Path Toward Tokyo |
| Monday, May 12, 2008 |
May 12 (Bloomberg) -- Typhoon Rammasun strengthened into a Category 2 storm with winds of 157 kilometers (100 miles) per hour over the Pacific Ocean as it headed in the direction of Tokyo, U.S. Navy forecasters said.
The eye of Rammasun was 1,270 kilometers south-southwest of Tokyo at 9 a.m. local time today, the U.S. Navy Joint Typhoon Warning Center said in its latest advisory. The storm was moving north-northeast at about 33 kilometers per hour.
Gusts to as high as 194 kilometers per hour were recorded in the vicinity of the eye of Rammasun, where waves were 7.6 meters (25 feet) high.
The typhoon, the third storm of the northwest Pacific cyclone season, is forecast to change to a more northeasterly track and pass south of Tokyo tomorrow. Winds are expected to slow to 120 kilometers an hour, with gusts to 148 kilometers per hour, by about 9 p.m. Japan time today.
Rammasun is the name for the god of thunder in Thailand, according to the Web site of the Hong Kong Observatory, which lists tropical cyclone names in use in the Pacific.
The typhoon is a Category 2 storm, the second strongest on the five-step Saffir-Simpson scale. |
posted by moderator  Londen time 3:51 PM |
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