Adventures in Driving

Driving home a couple of weeks ago as a typhoon was pulling into Miyazaki (15 seconds):



I tell ya, it's non-stop action around here...

Typhoon

In a slow year for these things, the year's first typhoon is blowing through Miyazaki. I don't know if it's because the typhoons here are a lot less intense than the hurricanes that blow through the American cities some friends of mine live in, or if construction methods here are superior, or whatever, but I've yet to feel any sense of emergency during one of these things (and I've been through at least 20 of them in the past 10 years).

No, no emergency. Just bloody inconvenience. The dog hasn't been out for a couple of days. My daughter's kindergarten (and probably others) mis-timed the whole thing and canceled tomorrow. This, of course, means that either me or my wife will have to take a day off work. My wife is a "part-time" (i.e. practically full-time with no benefits) nurse, so she doesn't get paid holidays. I'm a university teacher with full benefits, and second term doesn't start here until October (so I have nothing pressing to cancel). I may be a selfish bastard, but I know a losing argument when I see one. I'm staying home tomorrow. With crap weather outside. With a dog that by this time is ready to start eating her family. With a 5-year-old daughter who by this time is about ready to burn the condo to the ground. It's amazing the amount of energy that gets pent up from staying inside just for a day or two. Believe me, I know. That's what beer is for. Hey...

Stormy Weather

Another typhoon rolled through Miyazaki today. Here's what it looked like from the various balconies of my condo:

Take Me to the River...

In the previous post I said I had some pictures of the Oyodo River, which is rather swollen thanks to typhoon Man-yi (feel free to insert your own dirty jokes here...).
Anyway, with no commentary from me, here they are:

Take Me to the Bridge...

So, typhoon Man-yi has come and gone (to Tokyo, I hear). Miyazaki allegedly bore a direct hit, but from where I was sitting in my condo it seemed to subside just as it was getting going. It's still quite windy as I write this, but this sucker is long gone (from Miyazaki).

Anyway, I took a drive over to the Oyodo River before dark to see how high it was after all the rain we've gotten. It's quite swollen, but I've seen it in worse shape (I'll post some pics in an upcoming post).

The pics below are all of the same bridge over the Oyodo River (there are several, but this one had the best "background"). Sorry if it seems like I'm beating a subject to death, but the greys in these shots simply blew me away (click to enlarge).

Waves

[Typhoon updates are here.]

I took a drive to the ocean after work yesterday to see what (if any) effect Typhoon Man-yi was having on the ocean hereabouts. The water was a little choppy, but I imagine it's a lot worse this morning.

I'm (sadly) discovering that taking pictures in crappy weather is very difficult. Sure, the lighting is bad and what not, but the biggest obstacle is the fear of getting my camera wet! Anyway, here are a few (kinda crappy) photos of the ocean that I took yesterday. (Click to enlarge.)

An Ordinary Bummer: Typhoon Man-yi

The good news: A long weekend is approaching!

The bad news: So is a big fucking typhoon...

Details in the pics below (click to enlarge). It's really too soon to say, but it doesn't appear that typhoon Man-yi will directly hit Miyazaki (updates below). We will, however, likely get some very nasty weather, especially on Saturday.

The forecast.

A look at what's coming.

Updates to follow and, although I'm a bit paranoid about getting my cameras wet, I'll try to post some pics (if I can get some good ones).

[Images updated 7/14 2:40 pm JST; it appears that Miyazaki is going to get the worst of it around 6 pm; it's beginning to look like a direct hit again...]

[Images updated 7/14 10:45 am JST. Man-yi is one slow motherfucker! It's been pulling into Miyazaki for the last couple of hours, but hasn't really arrived yet. I'm not sure when we can expect the strongest effects, but the whole city is basically closed down today. I hope I don't run out of beer, it's at least 300 meters to the nearest vending machine! Also, I've taken (and will take) some video, but my dvd/rw is on the fritz, so I can't upload anything right now. My daughter is beginning to climb the walls...]

[Images updated 7/13 11:00 pm JST; hmm... the Japan Meteorological Agency seems to think Man-yi will veer a bit north. If so, things might not get too nasty here in Miyazaki. It's still a few hours from Kyushu, so we'll have to wait and see...]

[Images updated 7/13 4:50 pm JST; according to this Bloomberg article NHK is reporting that areas of Miyazaki are already flooded with reports of power outages and cars being blown over (although I suspect the latter was from Okinawa, not Miyazaki). The typhoon proper is still several hours away...]

[7/13 12:00 pm JST: The news out of Okinawa, which is currently being battered by Man-yi. The wind and rain are starting to pick up here in Miyazaki...]

[Images updated 7/13 11:40 am JST; things are definitely looking grimmer; possibly a direct hit. Find Miyazaki in the map below and compare it to the forecast above.]



[Images updated 7/13 6:30 am JST; hmm... looks like things have taken a turn for the worse. It seems to have picked up strength, and it's definitely passing a lot closer to Miyazaki than was forecast yesterday.]

[Images updated 5:05 pm JST]

Damned Weather

Well, I was scheduled to be flying home for a visit to Canada tomorrow, but there's this big honkin' typhoon parked off the southern coast of Kyushu that seems determined that I postpone my trip at least one day (I'm in Miyazaki, which is about a half an inch northeast of the typhoon's eye in the image on the right). Normally these things blow through in a few hours, but this one seems to be just sitting there taunting me. Typhoon-like conditions began here about 24 hours ago, and it looks like it'll be another 24 hours before we're rid of the damned thing.
Generally I view typhoons in a favorable light. They're always good for a day off work, or cancelling annoying outings that you don't really want to attend. This is the first time in seven years in Japan that I can honestly say I have been inconvenienced by a typhoon.