Typhoon Imbudo forecast to hit Hong Kong on 24th July 2003

Current details for Tropical Cyclones around the world will be shown on the next line:

Typhoon Signal History:

Typhoon Signal Number One (Stand-by Signal) was hoisted at 20:20 HKT on 22nd July 2003.
Typhoon Signal Number Three (Strong winds Signal) was hoisted at 13:40 HKT on 23rd July 2003.
Typhoon Signal Number Eight (NE Gale/Storm Signal) was hoisted at 22:40 HKT on 23rd July 2003.
Typhoon Signal Number Eight (SE Gale/Storm Signal) was hoisted at 05:15 HKT on 24th July 2003.
Typhoon Signal Number Three (Strong Winds Signal) was hoisted at 08:15 HKT on 24th July 2003.
All Typhoon Signals were lowered at 12:40 HKT on 24th July 2003.

Comments

Since the weekend of 19th and 20th July 2003, the forecasts of the various agencies (especially JTWC) have been forecasting a direct hit on Hong Kong on Thursday 24th July.   By the Morning of Tuesday 22nd, the JTWC forecast appeared to be pointing this typhoon to the East of HK.  By mid-morning  the forecast was changed to a direct hit slightly West of HK.  By evening on 22nd the forecast track had shifted further West and Typhoon Signal One was raised here by the HK Observatory.  In the evening the sky was clear with some very high thin cirrus cloud.

By the morning of Wednesday 23rd, the forecast track had been adjusted to pass 107 NM SW of HK.  E-mails below will record the passage of Imbudo:

E-mail Reports

From: "Phil Smith"
To: [snip]
Cc: [snip]
Sent: Thursday, July 24, 2003 7:45 AM
Subject: Imbudo sideswipes Hong Kong

> Hi everybody.
> A couple of days ago it looked as though we might be in for Hurricane
Force winds here on Thursday (today).
> But Typhoon Imbudo made a left turn while crossing the Philippines and
sped up considerably and is passing by a couple of hundred kilometres away
in the wee small hours of this morning (HKT).
> Yesterday morning I went to work in bright sunshine with patches of high
cirrus.  While I was at work this changed to 8/8 cloud cover with the clouds
scudding across the sky from ENE to WSW when I came out the door at 14:00.
Meanwhile, the HK Observatory had hoisted Typhoon Signal Number Three, the
Strong Wind Signal, at 13:40.  Outside there was litter and leaves and twigs
everywhere and it was already gusty.
> While my bus was travelling alongside the river I noticed that waves on
the river had white caps.  Normally the river looks like a mirror.
> A few kilometres out into the countryside, while travelling along winding
roads surrounded by thick jungle through a mountainous part of the
territory, immediately after rounding a sharp, blind curve, I observed a
large grey cylinder about 200 metres in diameter standing on the road right
ahead of the bus.  As we went into it I realised it was a rapidly rotating
cylinder of leaves, twigs, branches, and dirt that was all airborne.  It
looked like a tornado, but I was unable to see whether there was a
condensation funnel above it or not; there was just a tall pillar of
whirling debris.
> As the bus went through it, the bus swayed all over the road and the noise
of twigs and other debris hitting the bus was deafening.  We came out the
other side of it okay, but the bus driver was looking rather shaken.  I was
glad to be in a double-decker bus weighing 15 tonnes and not in a lighter
vehicle!  This happened about 14:50 HKT on Wednesday afternoon.
> While working on a job in Sai Kung, the power went off a number of times
during a squall and visibility was less than 100 metres due to the rain and
the spray coming off the sea.  This squall lasted from about 15:40 until
16:50 with a great deal of lightning and loud claps of thunder.
> On the spur of the moment I dedided to stay in Sai Kung for a couple more
hours and have dinner there to see what the storm would do.  It abated!
> About 19:30 we took the bus home to Sha Tin and, although it was obviously
very gusty and the rain was intense, the trip was uneventful.
> During the night the wind was roaring loudly on and off and the rain was
belting against the windows and air conditioners so loudly that my children
were woken up.
> The HK Observatory hoisted Typhoon Signal Number Eight (NE Gale/Storm
Signal) at 22:40 HKT and Typhoon Signal Number Eight (SE Gale/Storm Signal)
was hoisted at 05:15 HKT on 24th July 2003 (this morning) to replace it.  As
I type, although Signal 8SE is still hoisted, everything outside seems to be
calming down.
> I have commenced a web page at http://www.drdisk.com.hk/imbudo.htm to
record details of the passage of Imbudo.
> --
> Phil
> <><

From: "Phil Smith"
To: [snip]
Cc: [snip]
Date:  Sat, 26 Jul 2003 06:34:32 +0800
Subject: Final report on Typhoon Imbudo

A Final report on Typhoon Imbudo.
After my e-mail on early Thursday morning (HKT) the Internet went down.  More precisely, my access to the Internet through i-Cable went down and kept on going down again all day, sometimes for three hours at a time.  Therefore I was not able to keep up with things on the web.
Typhoon Signal Number Three (Strong Winds Signal) was hoisted to replace Signal Eight (SE Gales) at 08:15 HKT on 24th July 2003 by the HK Observatory.
However Gale Force winds continued to blow at several stations including Cheung Chau (see the HKO graph saved on page http://www.drdisk.com.hk/imbudo.htm) for several more hours.  Here in Sha Tin, our windows kept on rattling and the wind was often howling through the building through most of Thursday and on into the night.  It was not a pleasant day to be going out of doors.  It surprised me though how infrequently it actually rained,
All Typhoon Signals were lowered at 12:40 HKT on 24th July 2003 by the HK Observatory.
Only eleven injuries due to the typhoon were reported in Hong Kong and there were no deaths.
Office workers were required to go back to work by 10:15, but all "Morning" schools were closed by the Education and Manpower Bureau.
Disruption to Hong Kong was really very minor.
My children were woken again by the noise of the wind on Thursday night, but by Friday morning all of the wind had disappeared and was replaced by a heavy overcast sky with a steady drizzle of rain.
During another trip to Sai Kung on Friday afternoon, I observed that a number of large trees had been blown down.
Other damage I observed was an enormous advertising sign torn off the end of the Jubilee Court Shopping Centre building in Fo Tan.
Not a very memorable typhoon compared with many others I have experienced, but we shall see what the rest of the season brings.
--
Phil
<><

From: "Phil Smith"
To: [snip]
Cc: [snip]
Date:  Sat, 26 Jul 2003 20:38:26 +0800
Subject: Video of Typhoon Imbudo

For those of you with broadband here are some video clips made by the weather.org.hk team during Imbudo's closest approach.
http://www.weather.org.hk/tmp/mvi_1254.avi (4mb)
http://www.weather.org.hk/tmp/imbudo-cwbay-100k.wmv (2:35)
http://www.weather.org.hk/tmp/imbudo-hmp-100k.wmv (8:08)
Although all conversation between wind chasers is in Chinese, the video itself gives some idea of the wind.
Enjoy!

--
Phil
<><

HKO Records

Graphs below were captured from the web pages of the Hong Kong Observatory and are Copyright (c) HK Observatory.

The graphs record weather changes in Sha Tin where I live.

24-hour Time Series of Air Temperature ___ and Relative Humidity ___

24-hour Time Series of Mean Sea Level Pressure

24-hour Time Series of 10-minute Mean Wind Direction

24-hour Time Series of 10-minute Mean Wind Speed

And a wind-speed graph for Cheung Chau:
24-hour Time Series of 10-minute Mean Wind Speed

The contrast between the Sha Tin and Cheung Chau wind speed graphs above indicates how sheltered Sha Tin is compared to Cheung Chau which is an island in the South China Sea and is much more exposed to the high winds.

This page was last edited on 07/02/2008 at 09:02:51 HKT

22/07/2003

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