NASA's Aqua satellite tracking Typhoon Noru in northwestern Pacific

NASA's Aqua satellite passed over Typhoon Noru in the Northwestern Pacific Ocean as the storm continued moving toward the southwest and remaining far from the big island of Japan.

On July 27 at 1:30 p.m. local time the Moderate Resolution Imaging Spectroradiometer or MODIS instrument aboard NASA's Aqua satellite captured a visible image of the storm that showed some powerful thunderstorms surrounding the center of circulation. The Joint Typhoon Warning Center (JTWC) noted on July 28, "animated multispectral satellite imagery depicts a struggling system with limited convection."

On July 28 at 5 a.m. EDT (0900 UTC) the Joint Typhoon Warning Center said that Typhoon Noru's maximum sustained winds were near 65 knots (75 mph/120 kph). At that time the center was located near 28.6 degrees north latitude and 144.3 degrees east longitude. That's about 163 nautical miles northeast of Chichi Jima Island, Japan. Noru was moving toward the northwest near 9 knots (10.3 mph/16.6 kph).

The JTWC noted that the intensity is forecast "to remain steady for the next 24 hours as dry air and moderate vertical wind shear are offset by higher sea surface temperatures and the development of an equatorward outflow channel. Beyond one day, Noru is forecast to intensify as it tracks over increasingly warm sea surface temperatures and a point source develops over top of the system."

In addition to Noru, there's another typhoon in the Northwestern Pacific Ocean that lies to the west of Noru. Typhoon Nesat is headed for a landfall in Taiwan on July 29.

Despite Noru's distance from Taiwan, the Taiwan Central Weather Bureau is also tracking the storm. For updated forecasts, visit: http://www.cwb.gov.tw/V7e/.