Typhoon Sinlaku (Update 9/14/08)
Well, I was going to skip posting about this typhoon because it didn’t seem like a big deal, but it suddenly swerved (literally6 90-degree turn) into us, and is probably the largest & strongest typhoon to hit us in a couple of years. Seems we always get a good one about the same time the US does.
As you can see from the photo, the eye is very large and well-formed, which means a stronger storm. This one is currently (9/12, 11pm)sustaining winds of 115-120mph, which means it’s a credible threat. Taiwan is under the white clouds directly left of the eye, and I hope we’re still there when it passes over! We’ve had strong winds the past two days, and from this afternoon some serious rain began pounding the Taipei area.
Naturally, the storm will be past us on Sunday, so there won’t be a need for a day off next week (yay!). I’ll update through the weekend as it passes through. Along with my usual preparations (see Typhoon Prep), this time I’ve added a ‘storm shield’ across the front door. When the wind blows really hard, the front door gets pounded with rain, which runs down and under the door into the house. Hopefully we’ll avoid that this time (if it works, I’ll post up a picture – if it doesn’t, I’ll post a picture of the ‘swiming pool’ in our living room!).
Here’s the weather bureau link if you want to check it out: http://www.cwb.gov.tw/V5e/index.htm. You can play around with the various views. The 12-hour button is my favorite, because it shows hourly shots of the storm so that you can see how it develops and moves.
UPDATE: Seems we got lucky again. The high winds didn’t hit (at least our area) overnight, and the storm is already downgraded to tropical storm status. The weather is still nasty enough that I’m cancelling my tutoring classes today, so I’ll probably get busy and catch up on my blogging (and maybe drink some tea as well 
).