Forecasters were watching a storm they designated as 91 yesterday, October 6, until it organized into a tropical cyclone east of the Leeward Islands around 5 p.m. EDT. It was then named “Tropical Storm Henri,” the eighth named tropical cyclone of the Atlantic hurricane season.

On Wednesday, October 7 at 11 a.m. EDT, Henri had maximum sustained winds near 45 mph after reaching a peak sustained wind speed of 50 mph at 5 a.m. EDT today. Henri’s center was located about 375 miles east of the Northern Leeward Islands, near 18.9 North and 57.4 West. Estimated minimum central pressure is 1007 millibars.

Henri is moving west-northwest near 15 mph and should continue in that direction for the next day before turning west. A subtropical ridge (an area of high pressure) over the Western Atlantic Ocean will be steering Henri over the next day or two. That area of high pressure will press Henri in a west or west-northwesterly direction. Over time, the ridge will become stronger, forcing Henri in a more westerly direction.

NASA’s Aqua satellite AIRS instrument captured an infrared image of Henri’s clouds on October 7 at 1:29 a.m. EDT. Henri already had some strong convective activity in his center as indicated by high thunderstorms (in purple) that were as cold as -63F.

The National Hurricane Center noted this morning, “Satellite imagery showed that the center of Henri has become exposed to the west of a mass of deep convection.” In addition to the center being exposed, further weakening is likely due to increasing southwesterly wind shear over the next day or two.

There’s double-trouble in the Western Pacific with one typhoon and one tropical storm bringing soaking rains, dangerous surf and gusty winds to two different locations. Typhoon Melor is affecting the east coast of Japan and watches and warnings are up today. Further south, Tropical Storm Parma continues to rain on Luzon in the northern Philippines.

Typhoon Melor is currently affecting southern Japan and bringing gusty winds, heavy rains and high waves there. High Wave and Gale Watches and warnings have been posted in Japan in the prefectures of Miyazaki and Kagoshima today. For current watches and warnings posted in Japan: http://www.jma.go.jp/en/warn/110_table.html

At 11 a.m. EDT, Typhoon Melor had sustained winds near 75 knots (86 mph). It was located 350 nautical miles southwest of Tokyo, Japan, near 32.7 North and 135.4 East. Melor is moving northeast near 25 knots (28 mph) and is generating 30-foot high waves. At 11 a.m. EDT, the storm was almost due south of the city of Wakayama.

Melor is currently becoming extra-tropical as it approaches Honshu. It will accelerate northeast to the west of Tokyo and reemerge over the Pacific as a strong non-tropical low pressure system.

At 11 a.m. EDT on October 7, Parma had been downgraded to a tropical storm with sustained winds near 35 knots (42 mph). Parma was located 225 nautical miles north-northeast of Manila, Philippines, near 18.1 North and 122.4 East. Parma has tracked north-northeastward at 4 mph. Parma is still generating waves up to 22 feet high.

Parma’s forecast track is still somewhat questionable, as different computer forecast models take Parma on different tracks. However, forecasters at the U.S. Navy’s Joint Typhoon Warning Center are forecasting Parma to slowly crawl from northeastern Luzon back across the northern island and finally into the South China Sea sometime on October 9. The slow movement across the northern Philippines means more unwelcome rain in the region over the next several days.

Warnings are posted in the Philippines today. Public storm warning signal 1 is in force in Batanes Group of Islands, Cagayan, Babuyan Island, Calayan Island, Ilocos Norte & Sur, Apayao, Abra, Kalinga, Mountain Province, Isabela, Ifugao, Nueva Vizcaya, Northern Aurora and Benguet.

An instrument on NASA’s Aqua satellite captured both typhoons in one image. The Atmospheric Infrared Sounder (AIRS) captured both Parma and Melor in a visible and infrared image October 7 at 0453 UTC (12:53 a.m. EDT) as Parma continues to rain on northern Luzon in the Philippines, while Melor is now bringing rains and winds over southern Japan.

The infrared imagery revealed that the cloud tops of Parma are not as cold as they are in Melor, indicating that Parma is a much weaker storm. Typhoon Melor has some strong thunderstorms, where temperatures are colder than -63 Fahrenheit.

Infrared imagery has also shown that Tropical Storm Parma has made its track over Luzon, and is now back over the open waters of the Philippine Sea. Although Parma’s track over land weakened the storm, the open waters are expected to power the storm’s convection and thunderstorms back up. In fact, infrared imagery has shown that convection is already redeveloping near the low level center of the storm.