Hurricane Matthew and Typhoon Chaba Are Taking Center Stage! (credit: CNN World Weather)

DISCUSSION: As dawn (dusk) set in across the Atlantic (Western Pacific) tropical ocean basins, there are 2 very different weather stories taking headlines in both parts of the world. Across the far parts of the Western Pacific Ocean, Typhoon Chaba is making headlines as it remains a strong and dangerous typhoon (i.e., the equivalent of a Category 3 hurricane at the current time). Over the next few days, Typhoon Chaba will become an increasing threat for parts of southern and central Japan as it continues to move north-northwestward before gradually shifting to more of a north/northeasterly heading.  This will put  several hundred thousand people across southern/central Japan in the path of what will then be a weakening typhoon and ultimately a fading tropical storm within about 72 to 96 hours from now.

Alternatively, as many of our recent posts have covered, Hurricane Matthew has been, still is, and will remain to be one of the bigger news headlines across the Tropical Atlantic and across much of the Western Hemisphere for that matter.  At the present time, Hurricane Matthew has strengthened somewhat since earlier this morning based on an increase in the observed maximum sustained wind speeds from 140 to 145 mph with higher gusts.  Thus, Matthew remains a strong and very dangerous Category 4 hurricane as the center continues slowly tracking northward over the next couple of days.  As noted in previous posts, Jamaica and Western Haiti have already been under and will remain to be under Hurricane Warnings for at least the next 24 to 36 hours.  Depending on the exact forward speed of this tropical cyclone over the next few days and the exact track Matthew follows, some of these details may change a bit.  However, there is sufficiently high confidence in the overall short-term forecast for Matthew that there will be life-threatening conditions across the aforementioned regions as well as points further north.  Therefore, be sure to stay tuned right here at the Global Weather and Climate Center for updates on Matthew and Chaba! 

To learn more about other high-impact tropical cyclone-based weather events from across the world, be sure to click here!

~Meteorologist Jordan Rabinowitz