Mirinae took it somewhat easy on the Philippines, at least compared to previous storms Ketsana and Parma. It peaked out at about 90 kts, well under the 115 kts originally predicted, and weakened to about 80-85 kts. prior to landfall. The storm passed very close to Manila, and they got just barely tropical storm force winds. There were some deaths, but it wasn't nearly as bad as it could have been. Still, a search for news reports reveals images of considerable damage as well as large parts of towns under water. The town of Santa Cruz in Laguna Province looks especially hard hit. I'm sure for some of these people it is the third or fourth time they have been flooded out of their homes in the past couple months.
Mirinae is weakening under unfavorable conditions in the South China Sea, moving a little south of due west. It will make landfall in southern Vietnam in about a day, and it might not even be a TS by then.
Out to the east is another strong invest (97W) at about 15/132, or about 735 miles east of Manila. This system has really increased in organization over the past 12 hours, and is showing some good outflow as well as some spiral banding. It has been given a "fair" chance by the JTWC to develop into a tropical cyclone in the next 24 hours, which I guess would roughly equate to a code "orange" on the NHC graphics. It is moving pretty quickly to the west, and I don't know if it has time to develop into much more than a weak TS before it runs into the same unfavorable conditions that are battering TS Mirinae. It is heading in the general direction of Luzon though, and this is an area that just doesn't need any more rain.
Beyond that there is a wave crossing the dateline at about 5N, and though not yet an invest, it will need to be watched.
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Mirinae Weakening Over South China Sea
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