Sinlaku remains a vicious Category 5-equivalent super typhoon, stays on course to rumble over Tinian and Saipan on Tuesday evening. Guam and U.S. bases remain in COR 1. (Joint Typhoon Warning Center)
12:40 a.m. Tuesday, April 14, Guam time: While Guam may avoid the worst of the worst, Sinlaku is still a savage Category 5-equivalent super typhoon and remains on course to barrel over Tinian and Saipan late Tuesday evening. U.S. bases on Guam remained in Condition of Readiness 1 through Monday evening. Wind and rain bands continue lashing the island. Most facilities on U.S. bases on Guam are closed through Wednesday.
At 11 p.m., Sinlaku, shown in infrared looping imagery, was about 170 miles east of Naval Base Guam, maintaining 175-mph sustained winds and 205-mph gusts, and rumbling northwest at 8 mph. Sinlaku just missed tying for the strongest typhoon on record, Super Typhoon Tip, which topped out at 190-mph sustained winds in October 1979.
Rota, Tinian and Saipan remained under a typhoon warning, while a tropical storm warning and typhoon watch stayed in effect for Guam, according to the National Weather Service on Guam. Typhoon-force winds extend 80 miles from center and tropical storm-force winds 275 miles northeast and 215 miles elsewhere.
Joint Typhoon Warning Center indicates that Sinlaku has scaled back some, but it’s still a vicious, nasty, life-threatening beast. Closest point of approach is forecast for about 100 miles northeast of Andersen Air Force Base at around 5 p.m. Tuesday afternoon, followed by a direct hit on Tinian six to seven hours later.
Sinlaku could become the most powerful system to ever strike the Marianas in the month of April, and the most intense since Super Typhoon Yutu, more than seven years ago, according to Westernpacificweather.com.
Keep an eye on the Guam Homeland Security/Office of Civil Defense and Joint Region Marianas official Facebook pages. Storm Tracker continues to have the watch. Get your safe on, Marianas!
