Storms and Floods

Tropical Storms

In the Atlantic Ocean

Invest 95L, the disturbance over the western Gulf of Mexico, has been hanging on by a thread and barely still exists. NHC has steadily reduced their forecast probability of development into at least a tropical depression, now down to 20%.

There is widespread rain, some of it heavy, in the south-central U.S., which, long meteorological story short, is the result of a long list of sources/ingredients: Ingrid's spin aloft (which helped Manuel reincarnate), Manuel's mid-level spin and mid-upper level moisture, and low-level Gulf moisture circulating northwestward around what's left of Invest 95L, all of which is now interacting with a cold front and a portion of the jet stream.

In the Western Pacific:

Usagi is as of this hour still a Typhoon and its outer fringes have arrived in Taiwan.

The typhoon is undergoing an eyewall replacement cycle, in which a small inner eyewall (ring of intense wind/rain around the eye) gives way to a larger-diameter outer eyewall. Though that can lead to a bit of a decrease in the velocity of the strongest winds in hurricanes/typhoons, it doesn't necessarily mean a decrease in the overall "intensity" i.e. power and destructive potential of the storm, as the size of the area of very strong winds can expand.

As Typhoon Usagi moves through SE Asia, heavy rain and howling winds are lashing the northern Philippines and Taiwan as Typhoon Usagi goes through the Luzon Strait which divides them.

Villages have been evacuated, ferries suspended and flights cancelled.

Meteorologists say the storm is the most powerful this year and will bring a cumulative rainfall of 1,000mm (39in) as it heads towards China.

The authorities there have announced a red alert ahead of the expected arrival of the storm on Monday.

The US Navy's Joint Typhoon Warning Centre said on Friday that Usagi was packing sustained winds of 240 km/h (150 mph), with gusts of up to 296 km/h (185mph), making it the equivalent of a strong category four Atlantic hurricane.

Taiwan is reported to have deployed more than 1,600 soldiers in "high risk" areas prone to flooding and landslides while placing 24,000 others on standby.

NewsBytes:

The death toll from the floods and mudslides in Mexico has risen to 100.