Two western Pacific tropical storms will affect the Far East during the next few days.
Tropical Storm Maliksi will brush eastern Japan Wednesday into Thursday, narrowly sparing the country a blast of severe wind and rain.
Needless to say, a more westerly track could bring much more significant impacts, both at sea and on land.
Far to the south, meanwhile, Tropical Storm Gaemi, gathering steam as midweek, will target central Vietnam with a potential burst of flooding rain.
Maliksi was centered about 600 miles south of Tokyo as of Wednesday afternoon, local time. The broad storm, tracking northward at nearly 25 mph, had high sustained winds of at least 55 to 60 mph, the Japan Meteorological Agency (JMA) said.
During its nearest brush with eastern Honshu, late Wednesday night and Thursday, the outer heavy rain and strong winds of Maliksi will reach the immediate coast east and northeast of Tokyo.
Late in the week, Maliksi will become a powerful post-tropical storm, eventually targeting the Aleutian Islands and Alaska Peninsula of Alaska.
The two tropical storms seen here are Maliksi, southeast of Japan (upper right); and Gaemi, between Philippines and Vietnam (lower left). Image taken 1200 UTC Wednesday, Oct. 3, 2012. (Japan Meteorological Agency - JMA)
Meanwhile, the smaller Tropical Storm Gaemi was still hovering over the South China Sea west of northern Philippines. The center was located about 230 miles west of Manila as of Wednesday afternoon, local time.
Highest sustained winds about the tropical cyclone were about 60 mph, according to official forecast advisories.
Gaemi was forecast to begin heading westward, away from the Philippines, on Thursday. Typhoon status was forecast for Gaemi beginning Thursday, according to the Joint Typhoon Warning Center (JTWC).
A landfall on central Vietnam was expected for late Friday into Saturday.
Owing to the topography, a landfalling tropical cyclone would be expected to yield torrential rainfall, threatening flooding.
Normal rainfall for the very wet month of October is more than two feet in parts of central Vietnam. Tropical cyclones sometimes dump as much rain within 24 to 48 hours.
The storm could leave 25 to 100 mm (about 1-4 inches) of rain over a wide area, even locally 150 to 200 mm (about 6-8 inches) along the Andes, between Monday and Thursday of next week.
Rainfall for India as a whole in the period June-September 2012 was calculated at 93 percent of normal amount, according to the IMD. The rainfall outcome in 2013 will likely hinge upon events in the equatorial Pacific and Indian oceans.
Travelers to the region may need to pack some cold-weather clothes.
Soaking rains may have been indirectly linked to Tropical Cyclone Mahasen, which made an early Thursday landfall from the Bay of Bengal in Bangladesh.
Tropical Cyclone Mahasen has necessarily had some say in the onset timing of the Monsoon.
Warmth will wax June-like in some capitals. Many others will experience the feel of mid summer for at least one day.
Jim Andrews
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