Beastly Category 5 Super Typhoon Nepartak is headed right for Taiwan
Super Typhoon Nepartak has taken full advantage of mild ocean waters and ideal atmospheric conditions to skyrocket in intensity, hitting 175 mile per hour sustained winds as of Wednesday morning eastern time.
This makes it a powerful Category 5 storm -- the first of the season in the northern hemisphere. This storm comes after a record 200-day typhoon drought in that ocean basin.
The storm has a monstrous appearance of meteorological perfection, with a central core of towering thunderstorms ringing a small, calm eye in the center.
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The Joint Typhoon Warning Center, Japan Meteorological Agency and the Central Weather Bureau in Taiwan all forecast the storm will make landfall somewhere in central Taiwan on July 7 and 8.
The intensity of the storm at that time is forecast to be greater than previous forecasts suggested, with projections for a strong Category 4 or weak Category 5 storm.
However, hurricane and typhoon intensity forecasts have greater uncertainty associated with them compared to storm track guidance.
This track could take the storm's most intense core south of the bustling city of Taipei, or if the storm jogs slightly north of its forecast track, its most ferocious winds and highest storm surge could affect the city.
The high terrain of central Taiwan will help wring out copious amounts of moisture from Super Typhoon Nepartak, potentially leading to deadly flooding. Typhoon warnings are in effect for central and southeastern Taiwan, and these are likely to be expanded prior to the storm's arrival.
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After traversing mountainous Taiwan, Nepartak is forecast to weaken before hitting mainland China on July 8 or 9.
Stay tuned to Mashable for further updates as the storm approaches Taiwan.
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Andrew Freedman is Mashable's Senior Editor for Science and Special Projects. Prior to working at Mashable, Freedman was a Senior Science writer for Climate Central. He has also worked as a reporter for Congressional Quarterly and Greenwire/E&E Daily. His writing has also appeared in the Washington Post, online at The Weather Channel, and washingtonpost.com, where he wrote a weekly climate science column for the "Capital Weather Gang" blog. He has provided commentary on climate science and policy for Sky News, CBC Radio, NPR, Al Jazeera, Sirius XM Radio, PBS NewsHour, and other national and international outlets. He holds a Masters in Climate and Society from Columbia University, and a Masters in Law and Diplomacy from The Fletcher School at Tufts University.
