NASA sees Tropical Storm 27W moving through Luzon Strait

NASA's Aqua satellite passed over the Luzon Strait and captured a visible image of the latest tropical storm to form in the Northwestern Pacific Ocean, Tropical Storm 27W. 27W is expected to be renamed Tropical Storm Barijat.

The Luzon Strait is a body of water located between Taiwan and the Philippines. It is south of Taiwan and north of Luzon, Philippines. Luzon is the largest and most populous island in the Philippines and the northernmost island.

At 1:10 a.m. EDT (0510 UTC) on Sept.10 the Moderate Resolution Imaging Spectroradiometer or MODIS instrument aboard NASA's Aqua satellite provided a visible image of Tropical Storm 27W. Satellite imagery shows a small, slowly consolidating system with flaring central convection (developing thunderstorms) and shallow bands of thunderstorms loosely wrapping into an obscured low level circulation.

At 11 a.m. EDT (1500 UTC) on Sept. 10, 27W was located near latitude 21.3 degrees north and longitude 120.4 degrees east. That's about 225 nautical miles south of Taipei, Taiwan. Maximum sustained winds were near 40 mph (35 knots/62 kph). 27W is moving toward the west-southwest near 7 mph (6 knots/11 kph).

Tropical Storm 27W is forecast to continue tracking west-southwestward over the next three day and slowly intensify. The Joint Typhoon Warning Center noted that the storm is only expected to peak at 52 mph (45 knots/83 kph) sometime on Sept. 12. Tropical Storm 27W is expected to make landfall on Sept. 13 over the Luichow Peninsula, China and cross it where it will emerge into the Gulf of Tonkin and make a final landfall late on Sept. 13 or early Sept. 14 north of Hanoi, Vietnam.