image: On Aug. 3 at 0135 UTC (Aug. 2 at 9:35 p.m. EDT) the MODIS instrument aboard NASA's Terra satellite captured a visible-light image of Typhoon Noru in the Northwestern Pacific Ocean. view more
Credit: Credits: NASA Goddard MODIS Rapid Response Team
NASA's Terra satellite passed over Typhoon Noru early on August 3 and saw that high clouds had moved over the eye.
On Aug. 3 at 0135 UTC (Aug. 2 at 9:35 p.m. EDT) the Moderate Resolution Imaging Spectroradiometer or MODIS instrument aboard NASA's Terra satellite captured a visible-light image of Noru tracking through the Northwestern Pacific Ocean. The image showed the eye had become filled with high clouds. Microwave data clearly showed the eye was present, so forecasters understood the clouds were high clouds and the entire eye had not filled in throughout.
At 11 a.m. EDT (1500 UTC) on August 3 Typhoon Noru's maximum sustained winds were near 85 knots (97 mph/157 kph). The storm was centered near 28.2 degrees north latitude and 133.8 degrees east longitude. That's about 348 nautical miles east-northeast Kadena Air Base, Okinawa (Island), Japan.
The Joint Typhoon Warning Center noted that Noru is forecast "to turn sharply northward after two days as a deep subtropical shortwave trough (elongated area of low pressure) digs across the East China Sea and erodes the western periphery of the sub-tropical ridge (of high pressure)." The system is expected to make landfall along the western central coast of Kyushu, Japan in three days on August 6.
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