Typhoon Halola To Track Near Southwest Japanese Islands, Including Okinawa, This Weekend (FORECAST)

Nick Wiltgen
Published: July 23,2015
Typhoon Halola is churning through the western North Pacific on a track that will take it near parts of southwest Japan this weekend.
First up for Halola will be parts of the Ryuku Islands, including Okinawa and Amami.

Typhoon Halola: Current Status and Infrared Satellite

Kadena Air Base, Okinawa, was placed in tropical cyclone condition of readiness (TCCOR) 2 Friday morning, meaning damaging winds of 50 knots (58 mph) or more were possible, there, within 24 hours. Almost 18,000 Americans and another 4,000 Japenese employees are stationed at Kadena.
(FORECAST: Okinawa)
The Japanese Meteorological Agency has issued advisories for high waves generated from Halola, particularly on south and east-facing shores of the Ryuku Islands and southern Kyushu.
Satellite loops Friday morning indicated Halola's core was being infiltrated by the combination of dry air and increasing wind shear. As a result, Halola was downgraded to a Category 1 equivalent typhoon, according to the U.S. Joint Typhoon Warning Center.
The center of Halola is forecast to make its closest approach to Okinawa Saturday morning, local time. (Okinawa is 13 hours ahead of U.S. Eastern Daylight Time.)
Halola is expected to be a Category 1 equivalent typhoon as it makes its closest approach. Sustained winds of tropical storm-force on Okinawa appear likely, with some gusts over 70 mph, leading to some downed trees or limbs, as well as some power outages.

Halola Forecast

Eventually, Halola is forecast to curve north and move near or west of the Japanese mainland later in the weekend, potentially passing close to the coast of South Korea.
Halola is also expected to succumb to wind shear – typical for tropical cyclones moving northward near mainland Japan – leading to weakening during this time.
In an ironic twist, the typhoon has actually improved the weather over parts of Japan in the near term.
That's because it was extremely rainy earlier this week in western parts of the mainland as well as the Ryukyu island chain, which includes Okinawa, south of the mainland. A persistent fetch of moisture-laden southwesterly winds, unrelated to the typhoon, dumped torrential rainfall on those areas.
Interestingly, the wind circulation from Halola has helped to disrupt that fetch of soggy air.
The Japan Meteorological Agency says more than 600 millimeters (24 inches) of rain fell in 48 hours Monday and Tuesday on Nakanoshima, a small volcanic island in that chain. As of 11:20 p.m. Japan Standard Time (JST) Wednesday, the village of Sata near the southern tip of Kyushu (the southwesternmost of the mainland's four large islands) had tallied 545.5 millimeters (21.48 inches) of rain in 72 hours, with rain falling at a ferocious rate of 85 millimeters (3.35 inches) per hour.
(MORE: More Than 6,000 Hospitalized In Japanese Heat Wave)
All told, the large-scale impacts of Halola may end up being rather insignificant compared to the wet weather pattern it has replaced. Japan is well prepared for strong winds from tropical cyclones, especially those below typhoon strength – and Halola's rains are likely to pale in comparison to this week's rains or those from last week's Typhoon Nangka.

Rainfall Forecast

While we never want to write off a typhoon as harmless, it's entirely plausible that Halola could end up being a bizarre case of a tropical cyclone making the weather better for some people rather than worse.
Stay with The Weather Channel, weather.com and Weather Underground as we continue to follow Typhoon Halola.
Meteorologists Chris Dolce and Jonathan Erdman contributed to this report.
MORE: Typhoon Nangka, July 16-17, 2015