Nature Typhoon No. 15 hits Ibaraki, moves across Kanto

You know it's summer when a (non-)typhoon makes headlines.

Typhoon No. 15, aka Chan-hom, made landfall in southern Ibaraki Prefecture on 11 August. It was moving across southern Kanto late in the evening, bringing heavy rain and strong winds to Tokyo and surrounding areas. At 10 pm, the typhoon was estimated to be near Kashiwa in Chiba Prefecture. Strong winds were being recorded around the storm, while well-developed rain clouds near and south of its centre brought heavy rainfall to parts of the Tokyo metropolitan area.


One location recorded 28.5 millimetres of rain in an hour as of 10.20 pm, with heavy rain continuing around central Tokyo. Conditions were expected to remain unstable even after the rain clouds over the capital moved away. Forecasts indicated that another band of rain over the Pacific east of Kanto could move inland between midnight and 1 am on 12 August, approaching from the direction of Chiba and Chōshi.

Rain is expected to intensify again across a wide area of southern Kanto through the early morning of 12 August, with thunderstorms, graupel and hail possible in some locations. The centre of Typhoon No. 15 is forecast to move eastward gradually after midnight, but moist air is expected to continue flowing into eastern Japan even after the storm itself moves away. Forecasters said the unusual track of the typhoon, which has been moving from east to west, could allow humid air to persist behind the system. Typhoons that move from west to east are often followed by drier air and improving weather, but in this case rainfall could continue after the centre has passed. Accumulated rainfall over the following 48 hours is expected to increase particularly along the Pacific side of Tohoku and in the Kanto region, raising the risk of further heavy rain.

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Typhoon No. 16 ("Peilou") is already on its way, but will likely not make landfall.

The weather in Fukuoka this year has been really strange. We've had typhoons, but they haven't brought much rain to Fukuoka. Instead, the typhoons seem to be taking unusual paths and passing around us without giving us much rainfall.

It's been extremely hot and dry, and we've had very little rain. My home vegetable garden is suffering badly because of the lack of water. Some of the plants are already starting to wilt and die.

Normally, you would expect a typhoon to bring a lot of rain to Kyushu, but this year the rain seems to be missing Fukuoka. It's especially frustrating because we keep hearing about typhoons approaching Japan, yet we still don't get the rain we desperately need.