Ferocious weekend ahead for Asia

As weekend approaches, so do the cyclones for two Asian countries – Japan and India. While Japan prepares to battle a super typhoon Vongfong right after a week of Typhone Phanfone, India readies as cyclone Hudhud is forecasted to make a landfall near coastal Odisha and Andhra Pradesh by Sunday morning.

A super Typhoon Vongfong, the strongest tropical cyclone of the year, is on course to make landfall in Japan over the weekend. Vongfong is currently moving across the western Pacific, tracking slowly north-west and packing wind gusts of about 135 kilometres per hour.

The strength of typhoon Vongfong is similar to Typhoon Haiyan that ripped through the Philippines last November.

Vongfong is also following the same track as Phanfone that just crossed Japan after soaking the Land of rising sun.

While Typhoon Vongfong is weakening at the moment, it is still packing strong winds before it reaches Japan this weekend.

India faces threat
At the moment cyclone Hudhud is moving at a speed of 10 kmph and is punched with winds speed of 110 kmph at the core gusting at 130 kmph, demonstrating strength equivalent to CAT I storm. The chances of the cyclonic storm turning into a CAT III storm are also very high.

Hudhud is likely to make landfall between Visakhapatnam in Andhra Pradesh and Gopalpur in Odisha by the night of October 11 or early morning of October 12. But chances of the cyclone hitting Visakhapatnam are rather high.

What to expect over the weekend
As both – Vongfong and Hudhud - make a landfall, areas getting affected can expect heavy showers coupled with strong winds. High tides and surges are also a possibility even before cyclones make landfall.

Distinct features of Vongfong & Hudhud

a)     After the Landfall, cyclone Hudhud will weaken as it will hit land mass unlike Vongfong that is approaching open sea.

b)    Places that have proximity to the center of the system will witness multidirectional wind and variation in rain intensity in Hudhud’s case. The case is likely to be less in Vongfong’s case as it has already weakened.