image: Visible imagery on Sept. 11 at 11:44 p.m. EDT (Sept. 12 at 0354 UTC) from the Visible Infrared Imaging Radiometer Suite (VIIRS) instrument aboard NASA-NOAA's Suomi NPP satellite flew directly over Super Typhoon Mangkhut and stared into its eye. view more
Credit: Credit: NASA/NOAA/NRL
NASA-NOAA's Suomi NPP satellite passed directly over Super Typhoon Mangkhut from space and stared down its almost 30 nautical-mile-wide eye to the waters of the Northwestern Pacific Ocean. Mangkhut is threatening the northern Philippines where is known as Ompong.
At 10 a.m. EDT (10 p.m. local time, Philippines) on Sept. 12, the eye of Typhoon Mangkhut was located approximately 1,005 km East of Virac, Catanduanes, Philippines near 14.3 degrees north latitude and 133.5 degrees east longitude. Maximum sustained winds were near 172 mph (150 knots/277 kph).
The Philippine Atmospheric, Geophysical, and Astronomical Services Administration (PAGASA) noted that the typhoon continues to threaten Northern Luzon.
On Sept. 13 at 11 a.m. local time (11 a.m. EDT), PAGASA noted that "the province of Catanduanes and Camarines Sur will experience the peripheral effects of Mangkhut within the next day and a half, bringing occasional rains and gusty winds. Possible inclusion to Tropical Cyclone Warning Signal (TCWS) #1over the provinces of Cagayan, Isabela, Aurora, Quirino, Pollilo Islands, Camarines Norte and Albay tomorrow morning (September 13)."
Visible imagery on Sept. 12 at 11:44 p.m. EDT (Sept. 12 at 0354 UTC from the Visible Infrared Imaging Radiometer Suite (VIIRS) instrument aboard NASA-NOAA's Suomi NPP satellite showed that Mangkhut had a clear eye that enabled the satellite to see through it all the way to the surface of the Northwestern Pacific Ocean. Mangkhut was surrounded by a thick ring of powerful, rotating thunderstorms. The Joint Typhoon Warning Center noted that satellite imagery shows a symmetric and highly consolidated system with strong, compact feeder bands (bands of thunderstorms) spiraling tightly into a sharply-outlined 29 nautical mile wide eye.
The storm is expected to make landfall in the northern tip of Cagayan on Saturday, September 15 and make a second landfall south of Hong Kong, China on Sept. 16.
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For updated forecasts, visit PAGASA at: http://bagong.pagasa.dost.gov.ph/tropical-cyclone/severe-weather-bulletin