According to
NASA and US weather forecasters, Tropical storm
Chedeng (international name
Songda) continued to hurtle toward the Philippines with increased strength, rapidly intensifying over the last 24 hours to become a Super Typhoon. Worst, the weather system is expected to hit the Fukushima Nuclear Power Plant in Japan, as well.

As predicted, Typhoon Songda intensified and was a super typhoon with wind speeds estimated at over 130 knots ( ~145 mph) when NASA's TRMM satellite passed directly over head on May 26, 2011 at 0806 UTC (4:06 a.m. EDT). The Tropical Rainfall Measuring Mission (TRMM) satellite captured the heavy rainfall rates within the super typhoon using TRMM's Visible and InfraRed Scanner (VIRS) instrument. The rainfall analysis from TRMM's Microwave Imager (TMI) and Precipitation Radar (PR) data showed that Songda had a circular eye with extremely heavy rainfall (as much as 2 inches/50 mm per hour) particularly in the southeast quadrant. TRMM's PR instrument data showed the concentric rain bands typical of powerful typhoons. Warnings are in effect in the Philippines today. Public storm warning signal no 1 is in effect in the following provinces: Luzon: Catanduanes, Camarines Sur & Norte, Quirino, Albay, Aurora, Quezon Provinces, Polilio Island, Cagayan and Isabela. At 1500 UTC (11 a.m. EDT) on May 26, Super Typhoon Songda (called Chedeng in the Philippines) had maximum sustained winds near 140 knots (161 mph/259 kmh). Typhoon-strength winds extend 45 miles out from the center, while tropical storm-force winds extend 155 miles from the center, making Songda over 300 miles wide. Songda's center was 250 miles east-northeast of Manila, near 16.2 North and 125.1 East. It was moving northwest near 8 knots (9 mph/15 kmh). Songda is creating very rough and dangerous seas in Philippine Sea, with wave heights reaching 38 feet (11.5 meters). Songda has intensified in favorable conditions as the forecasters at the Joint Typhoon Warning Center predicted. Songda may have reached its peak intensity and is forecast to start turning to the northeast and weaken because of increased wind shear. Songda will then start to veer northeast and weaken due to deteriorating atmospheric conditions. Taiwan has already posted Marine Warnings for May 27 and 28, forecasting wave heights to increase from 2 meters (~6.5 feet) to as much as 6 meters (~20 feet) on east-facing shorelines as Super Typhoon Sondga moves past (it will stay off-shore and track to the east of Taiwan). The current track from the Joint Typhoon Warning Center takes Songda over the island of Kadena on May 28, and then skirting the east coast of Japan as it continues on a northeasterly track over the weekend. - EurekaAlert!.
Here's more on the warnings for
Taiwan:
The Central Weather Bureau (CWB) issued a sea warning for Typhoon Songda early Friday as the powerful storm approached the Bashi Channel off southeastern Taiwan. At 8 a.m., the strong typhoon was centered at sea 530 kilometers southeast of Taiwan's southernmost point of Eluanbi, and was moving in a north-northeast direction at 21 kilometers per hour, the bureau said. The storm system, packing maximum sustained winds of 198 kph and gusts of up to 252 kph, was expected to continue heading in a northeast direction, the bureau said. With Songda gradually approaching the Bashi Channel, waters off Taiwan's southeast and northeast coasts and in the vicinity of Green Island and Orchid Island, will come under the influence of the typhoon, the bureau said. It warned ships sailing or operating in the areas to heighten their alerts... Besides issuing a typhoon sea warning, the bureau also said residents in eastern Taiwan and mountainous regions in the north should be on guard for possible downpours because the cloud systems on the outer rim of the storm could bring heavy or torrential rains to those areas. - Focus Taiwan.
The Super Typhoon has already inflicted damage to the
Philippines, as it swirls north toward disaster-ravaged
Japan.
A hanging bridge was damaged and hectares of corn and vegetables were destroyed by a swollen river that engulfed two villages in Cabanglasan, Bukidnon in the southern Philippines late on Wednesday night. The disastrous effects of Typhoon Songda (Chedeng) were felt across the region as it flitted on the western side, officials said yesterday. Villages in Zamboanga del Sur and Davao del Norte, also in the south, were flooded and suffered landslides, affecting residents who were evacuated to safer places, said Undersecretary Benito Ramos of the National Disaster Risk Reduction and Management Council (NDRRMC). Many places in the southern Philippines unexpectedly suffered as authorities said that Songda's path would include central Philippines, southern Luzon, Metro Manila, northern Luzon, said Ramos... Thousands of evacuated residents in southern Luzon's Bicol region returned home after Songda passed. Hundreds remained stranded in areas which had been warned about the storm, because authorities refused to lift bans on fishing boats, ships, and airplanes. - Gulf News.
The Super Typhoon is projected to pass over the
Fukushima Nuclear Power Planet in Japan. The forecast track for Songda put it over Okinawa on Saturday night as a Category 2 storm, with maximum sustained winds of 109 mph and gusts up 132 mph. The typhoon may pass over the main island of Honshu, including Fukushima prefecture where Tokyo Electric Power Co.’s crippled nuclear plant is located, according to the forecast.

It appears Songda will slowly curve to the north and begin to weaken over cooler waters this weekend. Steering winds should keep the core of the storm east of Taiwan. However, this curved path could take the storm directly over Japan's Ryukyu Islands and dangerously close to Okinawa as a formidable typhoon with winds near or over 100 mph. A further curve to the northeast is likely later this weekend into next week, along with additional weakening. Regardless of the exact track of the typhoon, heavy rain is a certainty. There is a possibility that Songda will continue north and bring heavy rain to southern Japan over the weekend, with the possibility of rain lingering into early next week, including the area decimated by the tsunami and radiation release from a nuclear plant. - AccuWeather.
The storm is expected to weaken before reaching Japan. Engineers at the Fukushima Dai-Ichi nuclear station are trying to cool reactors and stop radiation leaks after the plant was hit by a March 11 earthquake and tsunami. A weakened Super Typhoon would still be potentially catastrophic for the severely damaged Unit 4 building. Despite meltdowns at units 1-3, the spent fuel pool at unit 4 may have the potential to be the biggest problem if something goes awry. Based on the map of the expected path, the typhoon is going from east to west, and should pick up more radioactive particulates to send towards the North America continent.
UPDATE: Professor James McCanney Issues Emergency Post On Super Typhoon Songda!Professor James McCanney has just put up an Emergency Post on the main page of his
website regarding the repercussions of the Super Typhoon Songda hitting the Fukushima Nuclear Power Plant.

Super Typhoon Songda is raging towards Japan dead onto the Fukushima nuclear plant (as well as many other leaking damaged nuclear plants), which will guarantee that vast amounts of nuclear radiation will be taken into the ocean to contaminate the Pacific fishing grounds with the rest rising through the Typhoon central updrafts into the jet stream that goes directly to the United States... Current reports are that almost all of the nuclear fuel was released in the Fukushima melt down and is considered to be far worse than Chernobyl... Japanese officials in concert with USA and Canadian government monitoring agencies are lying about the scope and extent of the radiation leaving Japan in both the water and air... As I watched this Typhoon develop I noted that it developed far faster than a normal typhoon and it smells distinctly of a manipulated storm... One of the most powerful storms in Pacific history... Its original path by any predictive measurements was to hit southeast Asia around Vietnam and Thailand, but then it magically routed due north and slightly northeast taking a bee line directly for Japan... This will guarantee that the remaining nuclear waste from all Japanese nuclear facilities will go directly into the environment... As I reported on my recent radio shows (see Archives) the government agencies are lying with bad science and statistics... While the Japanese government has a full blown cover-up regarding reporting of nuclear releases... A large percentage of this will end up in the food chain in the United States... Since the water in the Typhoon as it passes over Japan will pull water from the ocean and drive it into the upper atmosphere (Troposphere) which will in turn drive it into the jet stream that feeds USA and Canada with water for agriculture and our water supply... Due to concentration in plants and animals in the food chain (contrary to government paid scientists who are claiming it will be "diluted")... This is the final poisoning of the USA... I have stated before that I believe the Japanese earthquakes were man-made and then this manipulated storm adds the frosting to the cake... All by "natural events"... "acts of God"???