TL;DR: Kong-Rey is slamming Taiwan, strongest typhoon to hit the island in 30 years. Something seems to be brewing in the western Caribbean, but exactly what isn’t clear.
Typhoon Kong-Rey is making landfall on the east coast of Taiwan this morning as the equivalent of a Saffir-Simpson Category Three storm, with 115 mph (183 kph) winds. Fortunately it is not the 145 mph (232 kph) super-typhoon it was yesterday, but it is still a very large and powerful system with impacts that will extend across the entire island.
It looks like Kong-Rey will cause upwards of $10 Billion in economic impacts to Taiwan, then cause some additional impacts as it side-swipes the mainland provinces of Fujian and Zhejiang on its way to southern Japan.
The potential area of interest in the western Caribbean that was originally causing some unwanted additional Election Day angst is now up to 50% probability of spawning something in the next 5-7 days. But it no longer seems to be any significant threat to the November 5th-6th mayhem. The most likely scenario is a weak tropical depression or low-end tropical storm will form and cross Cuba or Hispaniola on its way across the southern Bahamas. But the modeling isn’t very consistent, so it will probably be Sunday or Monday until a clearer picture emerges.
Since it’s Halloween, here is the greatest Vampire song of all time (and just barely short of the greatest overall Halloween song), from a great and IMNSHO under-rated band, Concrete Blonde:
Another very close second is Nosferatu, by Blue Oyster Cult …
And also BOC (who sort of own the season), “Astronomy” (in fact, the entire Imaginos album) … seriously, a song with the title “The Siege and Investiture of Baron von Frankenstein’s Castle at Weisseria” has to be a winner.
Thank you for your dedication!