by Sabrina Salas Matanane, KUAM News Sunday, August 22, 2004 Subscribe to Sabrina's newsfeed   E-mail this article Printable version KUAM Toolbar Web Widgets Get RSS headlines

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Being described as "a very dangerous typhoon", Typhoon Chaba, according to the National Weather Service, is posing an immediate threat to the Mariana Islands. At 9am Sunday the island was declared in Condition of Readiness "1", meaning that by 9pm Guam would begin to feel damaging winds across the territory.

The center of the typhoon was located by radar near 14.4 degrees north latitude and 146.0 degrees east longitude, placing the storm about 105 miles to the east-northeast of Guam, 55 miles to the east-northeast of Rota and 50 miles to the southeast of Tinian and Saipan. Typhoon Chaba is moving west at 14 miles per hour, and the general motion is expected to continue over the next 12 hours.

With a slow turn to the west-northwest, this track would bring Chaba over the Tinian channel. Maximum sustained winds for Typhoon Chaba are around 110 MPH with gusts up to 130 MPH and are expected to intensify. Typhoon force winds extend outward up to 45 miles from the center and tropical storm force winds extend outward up to 195 miles from the center.

According to the NWS, tonight you will begin to feel damaging northwest winds of up to 50-60 MPH with gusts up to 70 MPH increasing to 65-75 MPH with gusts up to 85 MPH this evening before subsiding on Monday. Winds may be higher if the expected turn toward the northwest does not materialize and Typhoon Chaba intensifies more rapidly than forecast.

Meteorologists at the NWS are closely monitoring Typhoon Chaba for any possible change in its path, and as meteorologist Chip Guard explains, the storm is showing an irregular movement as it gets closer to our backdoor. "It was heading more to the southwest toward Guam and now it's heading more to the north-northwest between Rota and Saipan, but that can all change," he said.

Guard does caution that as the typhoon continues to push forward at its current pace, it will intensify and could reach damaging wind strengths similar to that of Typhoon Chata'an back in 2002 and Typhoon Omar nearly 10 years ago. Said Guard, "The winds are about 115 MPH. They're forecast to be 130 MPH and when it passes - those are sustained winds. The gusts could be up to 150 MPH."

The closest point of approach he says should be later on in the evening.