By AccuWeather senior meteorologist
Typhoon Hinnamnor late Tuesday local time. (NOAA/CIRA)
Super Typhoon Hinnamnor, the most powerful tropical cyclone on Earth so far this year, is forecast to gain strength over the West Pacific Ocean and remain a threat to multiple countries in the coming days, AccuWeather forecasters say.
As of Tuesday evening, local time, the powerful Hinnamnor was classified a Super Typhoon, according to the Joint Typhoon Warning Center, and a “very strong typhoon,” according to the Japan Meteorological Agency.
The typhoon had sustained winds of 120 mph (190 km/h), equivalent to a Category 4 major hurricane on the Saffir-Simpson Hurricane Wind Scale in the Atlantic and East Pacific basins. Wind gusts were estimated to be 170 mph (275 km/h). Satellite imagery showed that the storm had a well-defined eye.
Super Typhoon Hinnamnor approaches Okinawa on radar Tuesday night.
On Tuesday afternoon, local time, Hinnamnor's central pressure dropped to 920 mb (27.16 inches of mercury), making it the strongest tropical system so far in 2022. Previously, the year's strongest tropical system was Intense Tropical Cyclone Batsirai, which had a central pressure of 934 mb (27.42 inches of mercury). Batsirai traversed the southwest Indian Ocean in February before devastating Madagascar with destructive winds and killing at least 21 people.
Much of Hinnamnor's impacts as of Tuesday remained well away from land as the system churned over open waters of the Pacific Ocean. Tuesday night, however, Kitadaito-son, Okinawa, a tiny island in the Pacific, recorded wind gusts to 108 mph as the eye of the typhoon passed close to its north.
With warm ocean waters and light wind shear in its path, Hinnamnor is expected to maintain its intensity, and even strengthen into the middle of the week. AccuWeather meteorologists anticipate that Hinnamnor will become equivalent to a Category 5 hurricane on the Saffir-Simpson Hurricane Wind Scale Wednesday or Thursday.
Through the rest of the week, Hinnamnor is likely to take an unusual path.
"Typhoon Hinnamnor will continue to move to the west into Wednesday, local time, before turning southwest Wednesday night or Thursday, and then stalling through Friday," explained AccuWeather Lead International Forecaster and Senior Meteorologist Jason Nicholls.
This track will take Hinnamnor in and around the Ryukyu Islands of Japan for several days while also maintaining the typhoon's intensity. This scenario would result in days of drenching rainfall and severe winds for the region.
Widespread rainfall amounts of 8-12 inches (200-300 mm) could be measured across the Ryukyu Islands. Rainfall of that magnitude would lead to substantial flooding, experts say, and localized rainfall amounts could reach higher totals if the typhoon were to stall right over a particular location.
The exact location of Hinnamnor, in relation to the individual Ryukyu Islands, will also determine the extent of the system's wind impacts and possible storm surge. The closer the eye of the storm gets to the small islands, the more extreme the damage could be.
"Hinnamnor is expected to make a turn to the north sometime this weekend, and could impact portions of the Korean Peninsula or southwest Japan by early next week," Nicholls said.
Hinnamnor could start to lose some wind intensity once the system is drawn northward into slightly cooler waters. However, even in a weakened state, the storm could still generate an impactful amount of rain for parts of South Korea and Japan, according to AccuWeather meteorologists.
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