Typhoon 16W (Bolaven), # 21
Published: August 27, 2012
6:30 p.m. Monday, Aug. 27, Japan/Korea time: As suspected, all DODDS schools in Korea will shut down, no activities, no classes, no sports, as a precaution in advance of Tuesday’s anticipated arrival of Typhoon Bolaven, which is rapidly losing its punch but is forecast to hit the Yellow Sea (or West Sea) as a severe tropical storm or Category 1-equivalent storm.
Forecasts are still calling for wind gusts between 58 and 69 mph with 10 to 12 inches of rain. Thus, services at the various garrisons and air bases up and down the peninsula will be limited or closed completely.
Exercise Ulchi Freedom Guardian activities have also been temporarily suspended until the storm ends.
Bolaven will still be packing 69-mph sustained winds and 86-mph gusts at its center Tuesday as it veers 77 miles west of Kunsan Air Base at 1 p.m., 90 miles west of Osan Air Base and Camp Humphreys at 5 p.m. and 85 miles west of Yongsan Garrison at 6 p.m. Landfall is forecast for 7 p.m. just south of Pyongyang, and Bolaven is forecast to remain a powerful tropical storm all the way into eastern China Wednesday afternoon.
As for Okinawa, the island is STILL feeling some residual effects from the back-side wind and rain bands. I’d said in previous posts, this is a big storm, stretch more than 900 miles across. Very much like Muifa last year, only not nearly as gusty, Bolaven continues to impact the island with rain squalls and 38-mph sustained winds and 50-mph gusts.
Okinawa remains in Tropical Cyclone Condition of Readiness Storm Watch, and will likely remain so for quite a while, at least 9 p.m., maybe into Tuesday morning. Stay alert. Hazardous conditions may continue to exist, such as downed tree limbs or power lines and isolated flooding.
