FRANCISCO Drenches Okinawa, Moves Northeast

FRANCISCO weakens to a wet tropical storm

Tropical Storm FRANCISCO was located near 26.8ºN, 130.6ºE at 14:00 UTC, moving Northeast at about 12km/hr. The storm was located about 260 km east of Okinawa, as of posting.

A very wet Tropical Storm FRANCISCO moves closer to mainland Japan as a covetous Super Typhoon LEKIMA looks on.  VISIBLE/INFRARED satellite image (FIRE-EARTH Enhancement) recorded at 13:30UTC on October 24, 2013. Original image sourced from: CIMSS/SSEC/WISC.

Meantime, Super Typhoon LEKIMA with sustained winds of more than 240 km/hr and gusting up to 300 km/hr was moving northwestward at an average forward speed of about 25 km/hr. LEKIMA was located about 500km ESE of Iwo To (Iwo Jima) Island, at 14:00UTC.

Majestic Super Typhoon LEKIMA. SW IR satellite image recorded at 13:30UTC on October 24, 2013.  Image sourced from: CIMSS/SSEC/WISC.

Typhoon Stats for NW Pacific

• The 60 year average (1951-2010) No of Typhoons: 20.9
• No of typhoons so far this year: 28
• Percent Increase: 34 [Calculated by FIRE-EARTH blog]

Related News

Nansei Sekiyu KK, a Japanese refiner owned by Petrobras, has shut down marine operations at its 100,000 barrels-per-day refinery in Okinawa, due to typhoon FRANCISCO, said a report.

Fukushima Daiichi Nuclear Plant

The operator of the crippled Fukushima Daiichi nuclear plant is running out of options to store radioactive contaminated rainwater as a very wet FRANCISCO approaches.

Tokyo Electric Power Company (TEPCO) has started  transferring contaminated rainwater into underground pools, originally deemed too leaky. The precipitation from recent typhoons and extreme rain events have been accumulating in barriers around radioactive waste water tanks, reported NHK.

TEPCO has been storing the most contaminated rainwater in tanks and in the basement of a turbine building. But the tanks are now full, the report said

More details to follow…

Related Links

• Typhoon FRANCISCO and TD 27 Headed for Tokyo October 20, 2013
• FRANCISCO Intensifying to “Extraterrestrial” Storm Force  October 19, 2013
• FRANCISCO Shifts Up Into Major Typhoon Gear October 18, 2013
• Typhoon FRANCISCO Inching Toward Japan October 17, 2013
• FEWW New Hurricane Scale
• Satellite Imagery

Links to Typhoon WIPHA

• Typhoon WIPHA Dumps 800mm of Rain Over Tokyo October 16, 2013
• Typhoon WIPHA Targets Tokyo October 15, 2013
• Typhoon NARI Chased by TS WIPHA October 12, 2013
• Vietnam Evacuates 250,000 ahead of NARI October 14, 2013