Typhoon Dujuan Razes Japan Islands with 181-MPH Winds

Typhoon Dujuan has razed the Ryukyu Islands in Japan, as well as the island nation of Taiwan, delivering extreme winds and rain. A 181-mph wind gust was reported on one of those Japanese islands -- and it is probably in the top 5 wind gusts ever measured for the country of Japan. Taiwan was also hit with extreme winds measuring 153 mph.

Here's a terrifying look at the visible satellite as it approached Taiwan last night:

Both of those gusts are much higher than what you'd normally see recorded during a strong typhoon. This is partially because storms lose strength so quickly after interacting with land, and partly because weather stations that reliably measure wind speeds, especially those over 100 mph, are far apart.

Here's a further-zoomed out animation of the satellite up to landfall this morning:

The rain has also been intense, with over 2 feet falling in the Taiwan mountains, and even 16 inches in the large city of Taipei (where wind gusts over hurricane force also occurred).