Okinawa typhoons, 1954 - 1956

Typhoons coming close to the island of Okinawa interrupted the otherwise idyllic summer season. I was stationed as a weather forecaster for a two year period at Kadena Base Weather Station as a part of my military obligation. This was my first introduction to single station analysis and forecasting typhoons. Okinawa is affected by an average of four to six named typhoons from May to October. That a typhoon will pass near Okinawa in July is listed as an almost sure thing by the weather center in Japan. The typhoons were usually tracked by reconnaissance aircraft out of Guam, the Philippines, and Japan. If a typhoon was close to Okinawa, it could be tracked on radar. This paper is historical in nature, reporting the weather and typhoon activity on Okinawa some fifty-five years ago. This was before satellite observations became available.