Typhoon Sanba (9/15)

With the Atlantic and Eastern Pacific tropical seasons struggling to generate a strong hurricane, a different scenario of violence unfolds a half-a-world away in the Western Pacific with Typhoon "Samba". Formerly a category 5 storm, with 170+ MPH sustained winds (gusts over 205 MPH), the storm slammed ashore during the morning of September 15, 2012 on the small island of Okinawa.



Although far away, I know some storm chasers in that area who were there, mainly James Reynolds who lives in Hong Kong. As of the morning (local time), the eastern portion of Okinawa can be seen looking down through the vertical structure of the clear eye, and I can only wonder what anyone there saw (a "stadium effect"? Fog? No wind?) ... The storm came in at 120 MPH sustained winds - Very impressive indeed!