Typhoon Noru raked Japan’s main island of Honshu with heavy rains and strong winds.
An unusually long-lived storm that was briefly a Category 5 typhoon, Noru battered parts of north-central Japan with 40 mm (1.6 inches) of rainfall, prompting warnings of landslides and sending some rivers over their banks.
Typhoon Noru was the third-longest-lasting tropical cyclone of the Northwest Pacific Ocean on record—ranked only behind 1972’s Rita and 1986’s Wayne — and the most intense tropical cyclone worldwide in 2017.
Noru also marked the latest occurrence of the first typhoon since 1998, reaching that intensity in July 2017.
Forming as the fifth named storm of the annual typhoon season, Noru formed over in the Northwest Pacific as a tropical depression on July 19. It intensified into a tropical storm two days later, and further to the first typhoon of the year on July 23.
However, Noru weakened slightly on July 25 as it began to interact with nearby Tropical Storm Kulap, executing a counterclockwise loop southeast of Japan.
Despite weakening to a severe tropical storm, Noru soon began to restrengthen as it turned sharply to the west. Amid favorable conditions, Noru explosively intensified to become the season’s first super typhoon.
However, Noru began a gradual weakening trend over the next few days while curving northwestwards and then northwards. After stalling off the Satsunan Islands, Noru began to accelerate northeastwards towards central Japan, making landfall in Wakayama Prefecture.
The quickly weakening storm soon became extra-tropical over the Sea of Japan, and eventually dissipated.
So far, Noru has been responsible for the deaths of several people in the southern Japanese islands.