Angus Thomson

The sea surface temperature must exceed 27° C in order for a typhoon to form. The heat from the ocean’s surface warms the air above it, causing the air to rise creating a low-pressure zone. As that air rises cooler air then rushes in to fill that void. The Pacific Ocean basin is currently in an El Niño cycle, meaning that the usual strong easterly trade winds that blow towards Asia and Australia weaken causing a massive pool of warm water to slosh about. The typhoon season has only really just started here in Japan and we’re currently experiencing our third. It’s so much fun to be able to see how these storms form and the secret waves that are created by these powerful systems. So far none of the typhoons that have hit us directly have exceeded the classification of a category 2 (meaning winds of 154-177 km/h) and yet the sheer strength of the wind as seen in the fourth slide has been amazing to witness. So far it’s been good fun, and its an incredibly lively reef to be able to surf and snorkel over, luckily, we got a bit more time to see what happens 👍