October 28, 2019 - Typhoon Bualoi

On October 25, 2019 the Moderate Resolution Imaging Spectroradiometer (MODIS) on board NASA’s Aqua satellite acquired a true-color image of Typhoon Bualoi as it spun over the North Pacific Ocean east of Japan. The elongated shape, stretching from southwest to northeast, indicated that Bualoi was weakening as it interacted with strong wind shear.

Bualoi formed on October 19 as Tropical Depression 22W and strengthened into a tropical storm later that day. It became a typhoon on October 20. By October 22, Typhoon Bualoi reached peak intensity, pacing one-minute maximum sustained winds of 145 mph (230 km/h), bringing it to the strength of a Category 4 hurricane, based on the Saffir-Simpson Hurricane Wind Scale.

After bringing drenching rain and strong winds to the Northern Marianas Islands from October 20-21, the close approach to Japan also brought rainfall to several of those islands as the storm weakened and became extratropical from October 23 – 25. The Joint Typhoon Warning Center issued their final bulletin on Bualoi on October 25 at 5:00 a.m. EDT (0900UTC). At that time, Bualoi was carrying maximum sustained winds of 75 mph (120 km/h) and was speeding to the northeast, away from Japan, at about 28 mph (44 km/h).

Image Facts
Satellite: Aqua
Date Acquired: 10/24/2019
Resolutions: 1km (1.9 MB), 500m (5.3 MB), 250m (9.6 MB)
Bands Used: 1,4,3
Image Credit: MODIS Land Rapid Response Team, NASA GSFC