After much deliberation, my friend Stuart Robinson from England and I headed to the far east to chase our first typhoon, Super Typhoon Krosa (which means “crane”). All indications were that it would make landfall as a Category 4 storm, somewhere near Taiwan. We jumped on our planes and flew there to get into place before flights were cancelled. As I flew into Taiwan, we flew over the northern portion of the typhoon. It was a bumpy flight I’ll not soon forget!
Our plan was to head to the eastern coast and get into the northern eyewall and then the eye as it made landfall. On the morning of the 6th, we did just that. Unfortunately as the typhoon made landfall, it was deflected south, the back out to sea and then across the northern tip of Taiwan. The deflection took its toll on the typhoon. We had winds up to 120 MPH gust, sustained in the 95-100 MPH range. A serious weakening indeed. Nonetheless, it was an experience I will not soon forget. Taiwan is a beautiful island off the coast of China with a grand history and beautiful scenery. They escaped a potentially serious storm with only crop and ag damage, with some damage to buildings and power lines.