Typhoon Champi traveling north of Okinawa islands

Large Typhoon Champi was traveling over waters north of the Sakishima Islands in Okinawa Prefecture on Saturday morning and was forecast to move north over the East China Sea through Sunday, according to the Japan Meteorological Agency.

The 30th typhoon of this year could approach the Kyushu region in southwestern Japan on Monday morning and is expected to become an extratropical cyclone by Tuesday morning, moving toward the Pacific off western and eastern Japan.

On Saturday morning, a weather front extending across western Japan brought heavy rain to Mie Prefecture. The agency is urging caution for possible heavy rain in northern Kyushu, the Chugoku and Kinki western regions and the Hokuriku central region through around Monday.

At 9 a.m., the typhoon was moving east at 15 kph over waters about 50 kilometers north-northeast of Yonaguni Island on Japan’s western border. It had a central atmospheric pressure of 980 hectopascals, with wind speeds of up to 108 kph and instantaneous wind speeds of up to 162 kph.

The Mie town of Kihoku recorded 89.5 millimeters of rainfall in the hour through around 6:40 a.m. The Mie city of Owase observed 302 millimeters in the 12 hours through 9:20 a.m.

On Ishigaki Island in Okinawa, a maximum instantaneous wind speed of 126 kph was recorded shortly after 9:20 a.m.