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Typhoon Krathon was slowly meandering towards the coastline of Taiwan on October 2, 2024, when the Moderate Resolution Imaging Spectroradiometer acquired this true-color image of the powerful, but weakening, storm. The cloud-filled eye of the large typhoon was spinning about 120 kilometers (75 miles) southwest of the Kaohsiung city area, Taiwan while the convective bands reach well over the island. The storm already had dropped torrential rain across Taiwan and knocked out power to more than 5,000 customers and caused the evacuation of about 9,000 people, according to media reports.
Near the time the image was acquired, Typhoon Krathon (also known as Typhoon Julian in the Philippines) carried maximum sustained winds of about 115 miles per hour (185 km/h), which placed it as a Category 3 storm on the Saffir-Simpson Hurricane Wind Scale. This is down from peak windspeed of 150 miles per hour (241.4 km/h)—the equivalent of a Category 4 hurricane—which Krathon achieved on September 30 as it pulled away from the Philippines.
Typhoon Krathon thrashed part of the northern Philippines, on September 29-30, toppling trees and damaging roofs. According to a report published on ReliefWeb, heavy rainfall, strong wind, and storm surge resulted in floods and a number of other severe weather-related incidents. As of October 2, one person is listed as missing, 8 injured, and more than 5,400 have been displaced, and 149,000 impacted across northern Luzon Island. News reports also stated that at least three people died in the Philippines due to the storm.
Typhoon Krathon is expected to make landfall on southwestern Taiwan near midnight on October 2. Once ashore, Krathon should quickly weaken as it interacts with the mountainous terrain of the island.
Image Facts
Satellite:
Terra
Date Acquired: 10/2/2024
Resolutions:
1km (317 KB), 500m (1014.1 KB), 250m (2.9 MB)
Bands Used: 1,4,3
Image Credit:
MODIS Land Rapid Response Team, NASA GSFC