Typhoon Soudelor moving towards Taiwan

03 August 2015 00:00 UTC–04 August 23:00 UTC, 6 August 00:35 UTC

Region

Taiwan, China

Satellites

Metop-B, Himawari-8

Instruments

ASCAT, AVHRR, AHI

Channels/Products

ASCAT winds, 10.9 IR Enhanced, VIS0.64 (500m resolution)

Typhoon Soudelor as it crossed over the West Pacific.

Last Updated

14 November 2020

Published on

03 August 2015

By Vesa Nietosvaara (EUMETSAT) and Hans-Peter Roesli (Switzerland)

Typhoon Soudelor crossed over the West Pacific and reached its peak intensity on Monday 3 August, becoming the strongest storm of 2015, at that point. While approaching Taiwan, Soudelor still remained a powerful typhoon, with maximum sustained winds near the centre up to 162 km/h (Credit: JTWC ).

The animation from Himawari-8, rapid-scanning shows the progression of the typhoon between 3 August 00:00 UTC–4 August 23:00 UTC

Figure 1: Metop-B, 10.9 IR Enhanced image, 6 August 00:35 UTC. Full resolution

Download animation, Himawari-8 rapid scanning, 03 August 00:00 UTC–04 August 23:00 UTC
Download full resolution image, Himawari-8 rapid scanning overlaid with Metop ASCAT Winds, 03 August 00:35 UTC
Download full resolution image, Himawari-8 rapid scanning, 03 August 00:35 UTC

The Metop-B 10.9 IR enhanced image (Figure 1) shows Soudelor over the Western Pacific with the eye of the storm clearly visible.

The coldest tops are shown in dark red, indicating storm top temperatures lower than -60 °C.

Impacts

Typhoon Soudelor passed directly over Saipan, Northern Mariana Islands, on 2 August, as a Category 2 equivalent storm, with gusts of 146 km/h (91 mph), causing widespread damage on the island.

In Taiwan at least seven people reportedly died, when the typhoon hit on 6 August, with sustained winds of 161 km/h (100 mph). At least four million households lost electricity and all 279 domestic flights were canceled on 8 August.

At least 14 people were killed people in eastern China after parts of the country were hit by the heaviest rains in a century.

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