image: The AIRS instrument aboard NASA's Aqua satellite captured an infrared image of Lan on Oct. 23 at 03:53 UTC (Oct. 22 at 11:53 p.m. EDT) showed coldest cloud tops and strongest storms (purple) were in eastern Hokkaido. view more
Credit: Credits: NASA JPL/Ed Olsen
Now an extra-tropical cyclone over northern Japan, Lan was a typhoon when it made landfall just south of Tokyo over the weekend of Oct. 21 and 22. NASA's Aqua satellite and NASA-NOAA's Suomi NPP satellite provided imagery of the extra-tropical cyclone.
On Oct. 23 at 03:42 UTC (Oct. 22 at 11:42 p.m. EDT) NASA-NOAA's Suomi NPP satellite provided this visible image of Post-tropical cyclone Lan over Hokkaido, Japan. Hokkaido is the northernmost of Japan's main islands. The image showed the center near Hokkaido while clouds from the western side of the storm extended into the Sea of Japan.
The Atmospheric Infrared Sounder aboard NASA's Aqua satellite captured an infrared image of Lan on Oct. 23 at 03:53 UTC (Oct. 22 at 11:53 p.m. EDT). Infrared data provides cloud top temperatures and the coldest cloud tops and strongest storms were in eastern Hokkaido.
On Oct. 23 at 0300 UTC (Oct. 22 at 11 p.m. EDT) the Joint Typhoon Warning Center issued the final bulletin on Lan. At that time Lan had maximum sustained winds near 65 knots (74 mph) and was still typhoon strength as an extra-tropical cyclone. Lan was centered near 28.6 degrees north latitude and 143.6 degrees east longitude. That's about 187 nautical miles south of Misawa, Japan. Lan was speeding to the northeast at 36 knots (41.4 mph/66.6 kph).
The Joint Typhoon Warning Center said "Animated multispectral satellite imagery depicts a well-defined frontal structure with an exposed, broad center and rapidly decaying deep convection sheared to the northeast. Lan is forecast to continue accelerating northeastward within the mid-latitude westerly flow but is forecast to maintain storm-force winds."
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