While things are relatively tranquil in the Atlantic and the Eastern Pacific with no depressions or storms at the moment in either region, the Western Pacific has a tropical storm. According to the Weather Channel’s latest report on the tropics this afternoon, Tropical Storm Dujuan is being closely watched as it moves to the Northwest. The latest forecast calls for Dujuan to become a typhoon, and threaten the South-Central portion of Japan before recurving to the Northeast and out to sea.

The Joint Typhoon Warning Center indicates that maximum sustained winds are at 50 miles per hour while gusts are up to 60 miles per hour. Located some 770 miles to the South-Southwest of Tokyo Japan, Dujuan has tracked to the North-Northeast at about 11 miles per hour. The forecast cone of uncertainty has the outskirts of Tokyo on the very fringe as the storm is expected to reach typhoon status by late afternoon tomorrow (EDT). Maximum wave heights could get as high as 25 feet with this system.

Earlier in the day, the storm was showing signs of further development. According to the forecast discussion from the JTWC, deep convection continues to develop around the center of circulation while healthy outflow is providing good exhaust as depicted in the latest infrared satellite and water vapor imagery. Dujuan is currently being influenced by a subtropical ridge to the East of the system. As it starts to get to the periphery of the ridge, expect Dujuan to turn to more toward the east, and away from Japan.

So far this year in the WestPAC, there have been 22 depressions, 10 storms, and 5 typhoons according to information from Wikipedia. One of the most significant was Typhoon Morakot, which at peak strength was only a Category Two Typhoon with winds of 90 miles per hour, but it produced torrential rains over the rugged terrain of Taiwan that spawned deadly floods and mudslides.