Typhoons in Japan

Hi everyone!

Some of you may have seen this on the news, but last Saturday a large typhoon hit Japan. So, I decided to make this week's topic about typhoons, as well as some information about Typhoon Hagibis.

Typhoon Hagibis nearing Japan

Typhoons in General

So, what is a typhoon? It's actually very similar to a hurricane - both are powerful storms that begin in the ocean and can cause damage due to the power of their wind and rain when they reach land. Typhoons and hurricanes share the same classification methods, where a Category 1 is the weakest and Category 5 is the strongest, as well as the same intensity scale, which I will post a little later on. In fact, the only real difference between the two is where they occur. A powerful tropical that strikes the northeastern Pacific Ocean or the northwestern Atlantic in the Caribbean or the southeastern United States is what we call a "hurricane", whereas a similar storm that occurs in the northwestern Pacific near East Asia is called a "typhoon". There is actually a third name for this type of storm, for ones that occur in the Indian Ocean or the southern Pacific, which are known as "cyclones". Many scholars debate about where the word "typhoon" came from, but most believe it came from either the Urdu word ṭūfān or the Chinese word tai fung, with the English name being a corruption of the original pronunciation. However, it most likely did not come from the name of the monster from Greek mythology known as Typhon, despite the similarity in spelling.

A map of how tropical storms are named

Since typhoons and hurricanes are two words for the same weather phenomenon, with the only real difference being location, typhoons look very similar. They manifest as a swirling mass of rainclouds and wind that form a spiral pattern, with several "arms" that come from a central body. The strongest of these storms have a clearly visible "eye" in the center, where the winds and rain are calmer in comparison to the rest of the storm. Typhoons are created from tropical storms, but a tropical storm will not always grow large enough to be called a fully-fledged typhoon, with most dying out before they can become powerful enough to cause damage on land or even reach land in the first place. In order for a tropical storm to become powerful enough to become a typhoon, it requires six things:

1. Warm ocean temperature
2. Atmospheric instability, or in other words rapidly changing weather
3. High humidity
4. Low vertical wind shear (wind stays the same speed no matter how high up it is)
5. A low-level focus or disturbance in regular weather patterns
6. Enough force from wind to develop a low pressure center

If all these conditions are met, then the tropical storm can intensify into a full typhoon. This chart form the Japanese Meteorological Agency shows the different classifications a storm can have.

"kt" stands for "knots". A tropical storm becomes a typhoon when it reaches a wind speed of 64 knots (74 mph)

Japanese Taifuu (台風) and Typhoon Hagibis

The Japanese word for typhoons, "taifuu" is derived from the Chinese word tai fung, with the pronunciation changed to make it fit the Japanese lexicon. As you can see in the earlier map, Japan is very prone to being hit by typhoons. Usually, when a typhoon hits Japan, it starts at the southern island of Okinawa and travels up the western side of the country, keeping its strength up by traveling along the sea between the islands of Japan and eastern China. This western coast includes Kyoto, so when people living here got word that a typhoon was going to be hitting the country, everyone started bracing themselves for the storm. Many people bought bottled water and nonperishable food from grocery stores in case they lost power for a few days. Additionally, someone suggested to me that I should stock up on plastic bags as an alternative for if my apartment couldn't get fresh water for a few days and my toilet went out. (Ew.)

However, the storm, named Hagibis after the Tagalog (the native language of the Philippines) word for swift, had a different destination than usual. Instead of the western side of the country, the storm's course took it towards the eastern side of the country, making landfall on Saturday, October 12 in Tokyo and the surrounding areas. Evacuations had taken place prior to this happening, but unfortunately Tokyo and the area around it was not as ready to weather the storm as Kyoto had been. There was extensive damage to much of the area due to the high winds, and around 30 inches of rain fell in a single day, causing widespread flooding and infrastructure damage. Around 270,000 homes lost power, which was made worse by a magnitude 5.7 earthquake in Chiba Prefecture at around 6:22 pm that caused further damage and landslides. Sadly, dozens of people were killed by the typhoon, with hundreds injured.

Flooding caused by Typhoon Hagibis

I realized after I heard the news that I had been taking the weather in Japan too easily. In Portland, the worst weather we get is a thunderstorm once or twice a year, which are usually over very quickly and don't cause nearly as much damage as a typhoon does. On Saturday, even though Kyoto didn't get hit nearly as hard, I still ended up stuck in my apartment for the entire day, unable to do much except watch the rain and wind outside until the storm passed. In addition, many of the stores and restaurants in my neighborhood closed down for the day, and the classes at my university were cancelled. People who live in Japan have to pay close attention to weather forecasts, and many people have an app downloaded to their phones that will warn them of emergency weather conditions and how to avoid them. This isn't to say that you should be scared of going to other countries or places that have certain conditions that you wouldn't face at home, but it's important to know about these things in advance so that you can be responsible for yourself when you go there.

This blog took a bit of a darker note than some of my other ones, so I'll try to make next week's topic a little more lighthearted. Until then,

またね！(See you soon!)