Thread: Typhoon Meji Typhoon Megi headed toward southern coast of China

Meji was a Super Typhoon - Category 5 - when it hit the island of Luzon in the Philippines early yesterday morning. Communications to the area is still sporadic and the amount of damage is unknown. At least 10 deaths have occurred, and the number is expected to rise once services and communications are restored.

The good news should be that the storm was greatly affected by crossing the island, and the typhoon is now only a Category 3. Further reduction is expected before the storm makes landfall later this week. The bad news is that the storm has retained its size, so the weather service is comparing this storm to Ike (Sept. 2008), and predicts that China should expect a Very large storm surge.

Jeff Masters has an excellent write up here: Wunder Blog : Weather Underground

Tracking map of the storm is here:
Tropical Storm: Tracking Map : Weather Underground

Royal Caribbean has issued an alert about Legend of Seas, and the possibility of an itinerary change here:
Important Updates - Royal Caribbean International

Here's an updated report from the Philippines:
Super Typhoon Megi Lashes Philippines - weather.com

Death toll is up to 13, which is still very low, considering the size of this storm

This update is from Weather.com:
"TYPHOON MEGI
"As of 8am EDT Wednesday Typhoon Megi (Juan in the Philippines) was located about 350 miles to the south-southeast of Hong Kong with top winds of 125 mph and was moving to the north at 8 mph.
"Megi is forecast to continue a slow northward movement for at least through Thursday. A slight turn back to the north-northwest or northwest is possible Friday. Megi is forecast to reach the southern coast of China around 170 miles to the east of Hong Kong Friday evening Eastern Daylight Time.
"Megi has been strengthening since it moved off the Philippines late Sunday night. The storm should level off soon.
"As Megi approaches China it should be on a weakening trend."

Meji has been moving back and forth between category 2 and category 3 storm. It is due to make landfall early in the morning on Saturday (local time ) as a category 1 about 170 miles NEE of Hong Kong. This a a BIG storm - the eye isn't due to make landfall until 12 hours later.
WunderMap Interactive Radar & Weather Stations : Weather Underground

No travel alerts for Legend of the Seas are available today.

The death toll in the Philippines has risen to 36 and could go higher as services return and cleanup continues. And although the storm did not cross Taiwan, it is responsible for at least 3 deaths there and 20 people are listed as missing.

Due to windshear, the storm could slow down to only a category 1 before making landfall tomorrow morning in the Fujian province of China, but, to quote Jeff Masters of Weather Underground, it " will still be a very large and powerful storm capable of causing considerable wind and storm surge damage".

Hong Kong should not be affected by this storm, except for some clouds and mild rain.

Thanks for keeping us updated on this storm, Mindy.

Loss of life and loss of homes is a terrible thing to experience and I pray that all those affected by Megi will quickly recover.

Thanks Char. I originally started following this because there was a chance it could affect cruises in Asia. But now that it has been compared to Ike, with what looks like very good reason, I thought it would be important even though no ships had to be diverted. It should be very interesting to see how the Chinese government reports this over the next few days.