MARCH 15 - TROPICAL STORM (ALMOST TYPHOON) BAVI

It was fun watching the progress of the storm on satellite. The track was initially headed squarely for Guam, but little by little the track inched north so the center was looking like it would be about halfway between Guam and Saipan. Caution: tech jargon ahead . . .

Typhoons, hurricanes, tropical storms - any low pressure area - in the northern hemisphere spins in a counterclockwise direction. They also have a forward motion. In the case of Bavi, that forward motion was about 20 mph. And it was moving in a W-NW direction (about 290 degrees on the compass). Sustained winds near the center were estimated at 60 mph. The winds in the northern half of the circulation would be traveling in the same direction as forward motion, adding about 20 mph to the wind speed. Saipan was in that northern half. Winds started to really ramp up about 1 pm - gusting in the 45-50 mph range without any rain. Deb and I took a drive up the west side of the island (the side away from the prevailing winds) to look at a beach where we usually do a little snorkeling. There is a little rock not far from shore where a lot of fish hang around that we like to look at.

Pre-Bavi

During Bavi

We decided to go over to the "action" side of the island for a look.The reef is very close to shore on that side, so the waves break closer in. There was a high surf warning in effect - waves 15-19 feet! The cliff below in the pictures is about 20-30 feet high.

I will try to post the videos on You Tube, but need to go to McDonalds. Here at the apartment, each file would take 20 minutes to upload!

At one point the surf broke very big and very close to shore, chasing me up the path that I was taking pictures from. A little adrenaline! When we got home about 3 pm, the wind was really howling and the torrential rains began. NOW we're getting it all - thunder and lightning, howling winds and torrential, sideways rain. the peak wind gust at about 4 pm was 72 mph. The power went out, but our apartment has a backup generator, so no worries.

The next morning, I went out to survey the damage and there was more than i thought. Hardly a banana tree was standing. Many larger trees were down in the road and one road was closed near us. Debris everywhere. Partly cloudy today with no rain and light breezes. We almost miss the storm!!

Folks start arriving tomorrow, March 17, for Saipan convention week. Stay tuned!