Typhoon Muifa makes landfall near Shanghai
On September 14, 2022, Typhoon Muifa made landfall twice near China’s largest metropolitan area and several of the world’s major shipping ports. The typhoon first crossed land on Zhoushan Island, then crossed Hangzhou Bay and finally made landfall in Shanghai.
According to news reports, it is the strongest storm to reach the Yangtze River Delta since 2012’s Typhoon Damrey. An estimated 230 million people live in and around the estuary. Operations were suspended in the major ports of Ningbo and Shanghai, as well as oil and gas operations in Zhoushan. Ferry and ship traffic was suspended, fishing vessels were called to port and flights to and from the area were cancelled. According to China Xinhua news agencymore than 1.3 million people were evacuated from Zhoushan before the storm arrived.
A little after 1 pm local time on September 14, 2022 Visible Infrared Imaging Radiometer Suite (VIIRS) is Finland-NPP the satellite captured this natural-color image of Muifa as it approached southeast China. 10:15 PM (2:15 PM ET) September 14, USA Joint Typhoon Warning Center said the storm’s center had moved to the Zhoushan coast and was about 150 kilometers (90 miles) southeast of Shanghai. Muifa had winds of 80 knots (90 miles/150 kilometers per hour), with gusts up to 100 knots at the time.
Earlier this week, Typhoon Muifa battered Japan’s Ryukyu Islands, which had been damaged by Typhoon Hinnamnor just a week earlier. Taiwan was also watered by Muifa’s outer lanes as it passed.
The Western Pacific typhoon season extends throughout the year, but the majority of storms usually form between May and October. So far in 2022, 16 tropical storms have formed in the basin, six of which have turned into typhoons. On September 13, the sea surface temperature was quite warm in the western Pacific, which provides fuel for tropical cyclones. However, the surface waters off Southeast China were relatively cooler because the passage of Hinnamnor had caused water to rise from the deep. It may have prevented Muifa from becoming even more efficient.
NASA Earth Observatory image by Joshua Stevens based on VIIRS data from NASA EOSDIS LANCE, GIBS/World Viewand Finland’s national Arctic Circle Partnership. Story by Michael Carlowicz.