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August 26, 2026 - Typhoon Saudel
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Typhoon Saudel was bearing down on Japan’s Ryuku Islands on August 25, 2026, when the Moderate Resolution Imaging Spectroradiometer (MODIS) on NASA’s Terra satellite acquired this true-color image of the storm. Near the same time, Zoom Earth reported that maximum sustained winds were about 100 miles per hour (161 km/h), the equivalent of a Category 1 system on the Saffir-Simpson Hurricane Wind Scale.
The typhoon formed from a tropical depression located near Palikir, Micronesia on August 15. On August 22, Saudel reached peak strength, sporting maximum sustained winds of 130 miles per hour (209 km/h), placing it as a very dangerous Category 4 storm. On August 25, Typhoon Saudel passed over Yoron Island, a very small island at the southern edge of Kagoshima Prefecture, as a much weakened typhoon. At that time, strong winds also lashed nearby and heavily populated Okinawa Island. Media reports that the storm caused the cancellation of several flights on Okinawa, but no detailed damage reports of the storm’s impact on the islands have been published at the time of this writing.
At 2100 UTC (5:00 p.m. EDT) on August 25, the Joint Typhoon Warning Center (JTWC) advised that Saudel’s maximum sustained winds had dropped to about 92 miles per hour (148 km/h) and it continued to track generally westward. It was located about 71 miles (114 km) north-northeast of Kadena Airbase on Okinawa Island and was pushing waves as high as 45 feet (13.7 meters).
In that same advisory, the JTWC described Typhoon Saudel as a “degrading system with a recently formed expansive dry slot wrapping into the core from the southern semicircle” and note that high vertical wind shear and substantial dry air are taking a toll on the system. Saudel is expected to make landfall over eastern China between August 27-28 after continuing to slowly weaken. Once over land, the system is expected to rapidly dissipate.
Image Facts
Satellite:
Terra
Date Acquired: 8/25/2026
Resolutions:
1km (2.2 MB), 500m (5.9 MB), 250m (4 MB)
Bands Used: 1,4,3
Image Credit:
MODIS Land Rapid Response Team, NASA GSFC
Typhoon Saudel was bearing down on Japan’s Ryuku Islands on August 25, 2026, when the Moderate Resolution Imaging Spectroradiometer (MODIS) on NASA’s Terra satellite acquired this true-color image of the storm. Near the same time, Zoom Earth reported that maximum sustained winds were about 100 miles per hour (161 km/h), the equivalent of a Category 1 system on the Saffir-Simpson Hurricane Wind Scale.
The typhoon formed from a tropical depression located near Palikir, Micronesia on August 15. On August 22, Saudel reached peak strength, sporting maximum sustained winds of 130 miles per hour (209 km/h), placing it as a very dangerous Category 4 storm. On August 25, Typhoon Saudel passed over Yoron Island, a very small island at the southern edge of Kagoshima Prefecture, as a much weakened typhoon. At that time, strong winds also lashed nearby and heavily populated Okinawa Island. Media reports that the storm caused the cancellation of several flights on Okinawa, but no detailed damage reports of the storm’s impact on the islands have been published at the time of this writing.
At 2100 UTC (5:00 p.m. EDT) on August 25, the Joint Typhoon Warning Center (JTWC) advised that Saudel’s maximum sustained winds had dropped to about 92 miles per hour (148 km/h) and it continued to track generally westward. It was located about 71 miles (114 km) north-northeast of Kadena Airbase on Okinawa Island and was pushing waves as high as 45 feet (13.7 meters).
In that same advisory, the JTWC described Typhoon Saudel as a “degrading system with a recently formed expansive dry slot wrapping into the core from the southern semicircle” and note that high vertical wind shear and substantial dry air are taking a toll on the system. Saudel is expected to make landfall over eastern China between August 27-28 after continuing to slowly weaken. Once over land, the system is expected to rapidly dissipate.
Image Facts
Satellite:
Terra
Date Acquired: 8/25/2026
Resolutions:
1km (2.2 MB), 500m (5.9 MB), 250m (4 MB)
Bands Used: 1,4,3
Image Credit:
MODIS Land Rapid Response Team, NASA GSFC
