for those of you who like to follow other basins, the westpac has been fairly active lately. over the last couple of days tropical storms wukong and sonamu have demonstrated a fujiwhara interaction (with sonamu swinging more than half the way around wukong into southern japan as it was absorbed). wukong has been disorganized from sitting around and upwelling itself, and also from other interaction with sonamu. with sonamu gone, it may reach typhoon strength as it grazes by southern kyushu in japan.
the future of wukong appears to be landfall in southern korea, perhaps near or west of pusan. this raises the spectre of additional flooding on the peninsula. last month severe flooding occurred in the north while the bad flooding in china associated with bilis was going on, as part of the same stationary pattern where tropical moisture was feeding into an active zonal jet. the isolationist north has not reported heavily on the flooding problems, but information is leaking out that suggests large numbers of people perished in the flooding last month, and the humanitarian situation is grim. another tropical system taxing the already charged hydrologic state there could mean serious trouble, there and in the south.
with the slow-moving rainy systems impacting east asia and the monster typhoon that walloped china last week, one could argue that the menace which has plagued the atlantic the last couple years has transplanted itself into the pacific for now.
don't get too comfy, though. the peak of the atlantic season is approaching and activity and easterly anomalies have been creeping across the pacific. expect the atlantic to follow suit as we get into the last third of the month of august.
HF 1452z16august