Three different typhoons were spinning over the western Pacific Ocean on August 7, 2006, when NASA’s Aqua satellite acquired this image. The strongest of the three, Typhoon Saomai, formed in the western Pacific on August 4, 2006, as a tropical depression. Within a day, it had become organised enough to be classified as a tropical storm. While Saomai was strengthening into a storm, another tropical depression formed a few hundred kilometres to the north, and by August 6, it became tropical storm Maria. Typhoon Bopha formed just as Maria reached storm status and became a storm itself on August 7.
As of August 7, the University of Hawaii’s Tropical Storm Information Centre predicted that Bopha and Saomai would continue on tracks that would take each into China, while Maria would move northwest across the southern end of Japan. Saomai was predicted to gather strength, while Maria and Bopha were projected to remain near their current strengths.
This photo-like image was acquired at 12:35 p.m. local time (04:35 UTC) on August 7. It is unusual, but certainly not unprecedented, to have three storm systems all in the same general area at one time. The trio makes an interesting illustration of the evolution of tropical storm systems. Bopha, the youngest at just a few hours old, shows only the most basic round shape of a tropical storm. Maria, a day older, shows more distinct spiral structure with arms and an apparent central eye. Despite their differences in appearance, both storms were around the same size and strength, with peak sustained winds of around 90 and 100 kilometres per hour, respectively. A day older than Maria is the much more powerful Typhoon Saomai. At the time of this image, the typhoon had sustained winds of around 140 km/hr, and forecasters predicted that it would continue to gather strength before coming ashore in China, according to the University of Hawaii’s Tropical Storm Information Centre. The typhoon’s well-developed structure (including a distinct, closed eye in the centre) in comparison to Maria is clear in this image. The slanting diagonal feature through the image is sunlight bouncing off the ocean into the camera, a phenomenon called sunglint. The very bright patch is where the reflection is strongest.
Tropical storm Bopha is approaching China and may make landfall in Fujian Province. If it hits the mainland it would be the ninth Tropical storm to hit China this year The tropical storm, whose Cambodian name means a flower, is heading westward at a speed of 15 kilometres per hour.
Bopha intensified into a strong tropical storm at 8 a.m. Monday morning. At that point it was located at latitude 22.5 north and longitude 129.0 east, 850 kilometres from Taiwan's Taidong County. It was gusting at 90 kilometres per hour and still gathering momentum.
Some 1,000 kilometres away, another tropical storm, Saomai, is at latitude 17.9 north and longitude 139.5 and heading northwestward to China at 20 kilometres per hour, while a third tropical storm, Maria, is moving toward the southern Japanese sea. Prapiroon was the sixth tropical storm that hit China.
Because they are influencing each other, the routes of Bopha and Maria will be complex, said experts with the Fujian meteorological observatory. Bopha will start lashing the sea east of Taiwan on Monday evening and will then bring heavy rains or rainstorms to Fujian. The local government has warned people to stay on the alert. The Chinese national tropical cyclone standard issued on May 9 has six categories of storm weather -- tropical depression, tropical storm, strong tropical storm, typhoon, strong typhoon and super typhoon -- based on critical central wind speed. A tropical depression has a critical wind speed of around 62 kilometres per hour, but this figure increases to 183 kilometres per hour for a super typhoon.
