Super Typhoons vs. Major Hurricanes

I was watching the weather yesterday and I took a long look at Super Typhoon Jangmi that hit Taipei yesterday. Somehow Taiwan seems to be a lot closer here. Hmm... Jangmi had reached winds of 180 mph and its radius was 174 MILES WIDE. By the time it struck Taipei it was down to 135-140 mph. Whew! What a relief. That's got to be better than 180, although not by much.

We check our weather on the Kadena Air Base website. The picture below is of a hurricane and it's one of the best ones I've seen.

So, here are explanations of the two storms...

Super-typhoon" is a term utilized by the U.S. Joint Typhoon Warning Center for typhoons that reach maximum sustained 1-minute surface winds of at least 150 mph. This is the equivalent of a strong Saffir-Simpson category 4 or category 5 hurricane in the Atlantic basin or a category 5 severe tropical cyclone in the Australian basin.

"Major hurricane" is a term utilized by the National Hurricane Center for hurricanes that reach maximum sustained 1-minute surface winds of at least 111 mph. This is the equivalent of category 3, 4, and 5 on the Saffir-Simpson scale.

You know, the buildings might be really ugly here...and they are...but, apparently there's a pretty good reason everything is built out of concrete. Yesiree, The Bunker's going to be a safe place to wait out a super typhoon. I do have some concerns about the windows. I wish there were bars on them. Of course, that would be bad in a fire but with a super typhoon it can block those big pieces of what I can't call "debris" because that seems to cheapen it a little. But the bars would block those large trees and other things from shattering the window. Then we'd be in serious trouble with the wind and rain after that.

All bases are under what is called TCCOR-4 during typhoon season. That means Tropical Cyclone Condition Of Readiness. When Typhoon Sinlaku was expected to hit Okinawa two weeks ago we were bumped to TCCOR-3. Now, there are several things you are supposed to do to ready your house and family for the storm. From what I heard it's more of an order than a suggestion. The TCCOR changes with the severity of the storm and the recovery period following. Fortunately, Typhoon Sinlaku decided to go on a different course and we only received 2 mornings of heavy rain. But, I know the big one's comin'...