Typhoon Noru Lashing Southern Japan With Heavy Rain and Strong Winds; More Than Two Feet Of Rain Reported

Jon Erdman, Brian Donegan and Chris Dolce
Published: August 6,2017
Typhoon Noru has been pounding southern Japan with heavy rain and strong winds since Friday, and will also spread heavy rain northward through much of Honshu early this week.
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Noru was equivalent in strength to a Category 1 hurricane as of Sunday morning U.S. time (Japan is 13 hours ahead of U.S. EDT) and was centered about 170 miles south-southwest of Sasebo, Japan. The typhoon is moving north-northeast at 5-10 mph.

Current Storm Status

Additional strengthening is not anticipated due to interaction with land along Noru's future path. Noru should weaken to a tropical storm by Monday.

Noru Path History and Forecast Path

Though Noru will be weakening over time, heavy rain will continue to be a significant hazard from Kyushu to Shikoku and Honshu. That heavy rainfall may trigger dangerous flash flooding and mudslides in Japan as Noru passes through.
The Japan Meteorological Agency has issued warnings and advisories in much of Japan for various impacts including heavy rain, flooding, landslides and high surf.

Forecast Rainfall Through Tuesday

Through Saturday evening, local time, more 25 inches of rain has already fallen in the past 48 hours in Naze, Japan, on Amami Oshima and about 12 inches was reported in Miyazaki on the island of Kyushu. A wind gust of around 88 mph was recorded on Yakushima Island with sustained winds near 60 mph.
Noru has been a tropical cyclone for two weeks since first becoming a tropical depression on July 20. Here's a recap of what's happened so far.

Noru's Rapid Intensification Last Weekend

Noru strengthened from a tropical storm with estimated 70-mph winds (60 knots) to a Category 5 super typhoon with estimated 160-mph winds (140 knots) in just 18 hours from 8 p.m. EDT July 29 to 2 p.m. EDT July 30, according to the U.S. Joint Typhoon Warning Center.
It's stint as a Category 5 equivalent didn't last long as Noru weakened on Monday, July 31.
(MORE: Stunning Images of Noru)

Last Week's Fujiwhara Effect

Last week, Noru teamed up with another tropical cyclone named Kulap in a meteorological dance called the Fujiwhara effect.
Named after a Japanese researcher who discovered this in experiments with water in the early 1920s, the Fujiwhara effect details how two tropical cyclones less than 900 miles apart rotate counter-clockwise about one another.
Think of the teacup ride at Disney or the Tilt-a-Whirl at your local county fair, but with tropical systems instead. In the teacup ride, adjacent teacups can not only spin, but revolve about each other.
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While Kulap had degenerated to a remnant, one could still pick out its leftover circulation in Himawari-8 visible satellite imagery July 27 south-southwest of Noru.

Typhoon Noru and the remnant of former Tropical Storm Kulap are shown in this visible satellite image from the Himawari-8 satellite on July 27, 2017.
(Japan Meteorological Agency)

Last Tuesday, thanks in part to the Fujiwhara interaction, Noru crossed its path from the previous week completing an oval-shaped loop.
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