THE STAR – The strongest global storm of 2022 is barreling across the East China Sea, threatening Japan’s southern islands and risking wild winds along China’s east coast.
Super Typhoon Hinnamnor is currently packing sustained winds of about 257 kilometres per hour (kph) and has gusts over 313kph, according to the United States (US) Joint Typhoon Warning Center (JTWC).
The maximum significant wave height is 15 metres.
Hinnamnor would be the strongest storm of 2022 based on the maximum sustained wind speed recorded at this point, according to an official at the Japan Meteorological Agency.
The Hong Kong Observatory said at 10am the typhoon was centred about 230 kilometres east of Japan’s Okinawa and is forecast to move west-southwest at about 22kph toward the Ryukyu Islands.
The US JTWC forecasts that the meandering super typhoon will lose some of its strength over the coming days.
Things are somewhat quieter over in the Atlantic, where a sustained period of calm is putting the area between Africa and the Caribbean, known as Hurricane Alley, on course for its quietest August – typically the start of the hurricane season’s most active phase – in 25 years.
The expanse of ocean has only had two stormless Augusts in over seven decades of record keeping – one in 1961 and the other in 1997.
