Typhoon may bring heavy rain, strong winds to western Japan

I know it can't be helped, but why the long weekend? I work Saturdays as well as the rest of the Week, save Sunday, so I have exactly Sunday and Monday off. And according the long range weather forecast, it's going to be Sunny from Tuesday until the weekend again.

Sigh. In any case, take care, peeps.

Be safe.

Smith,I hear you.

Hope it flits over to Tokyo - I could use another day off. And you certainly won't find me jammed into a station waiting for a train that isn't coming.

Looked pretty intense on tonight’s news

Believe me that was a tropical cyclone, which when one forms in the West Pacific is known as a typhoon. With gusts at 40.6 m/s and sustained winds of 35 m/s.

By definition a tropical storm is a tropical cyclone with winds of at least 17 m/s (34 kt, 39 mph).

It's just that the weather makes it clear to people who is the most important here on this Earth.

I hope everyone gets prepared ahead of time. By international standards this is a Strong Tropical Storm and does not qualify in strength as a Typhoon. Based on what we experienced in Okinawa it's pretty strong. So, call it what you want and get prepared. [The Japan Meteorological Agency, JMA, calls everything that goes round and round in summer a Typhoon and gives it a number when reporting in Japan. Now that they have international forecasting responsibilities they follow WMO norms. This has lead to two systems of numbering, naming, and strength classifications. It can be confusing!]

Every international typhoon watch organisation, including JTWC, and the US Navy have all called it a typhoon, so, there we go. @UK, thanks for the details. Interesting. But some people don’t know what tropical cyclone is!