NASA satellite shows Son-Tinh's swan song

NASA-NOAA's Suomi NPP satellite found Tropical Depression Son-Tinh over southern China early on July 24.

On July 24, the Visible Infrared Imaging Radiometer Suite (VIIRS) instrument aboard NASA-NOAA's Suomi NPP satellite captured visible image of Son-Tinh over the provinces of Guangxi and Guangdong, China, and northeastern Vietnam.

At 5 a.m. EDT (0900 UTC), the Joint Typhoon Warning Center noted in their final warning on the system, that Tropical depression Son-tinh was located near 21.9 degrees north latitude and 109.0 degrees east longitude, about 181 nautical miles east-northeast of Hanoi, Vietnam. Son-Tinh had maximum sustained winds near 25 knots (28.7 mph/46.3 kph). It was moving to the north-northwest at 6 knots (7 mph/11 kph).

The China Meteorological Administration (CMA) forecast on July 24 noted "the tropical depression within Guagdong has moved into Bobai County, Guangxi in this 8:00 a.m. (local time). It will move towards west by north at the speed of 15 kilometers per hour. Extreme rainstorm and scale 6-7 gale will hit Northern Hainan, southwestern Guangdong and western Guangxi." For additional forecasts from CMA, visit: http://www.cma.gov.cn/en2014.

Son-tinh was turning to the west, and will dissipate over mainland China in the next day or two.