Shanghai Scrap

Two weeks ago, under the influence of typhoon Wipha fever, I suffered the humiliation of choosing to live blog what turned out to be not much more than a cloudy day. I won’t make that mistake again.

However, over the last 12 hours I couldn’t help but notice that this blog has had a sudden increase in visitors looking for “Shanghai radar images,” “typhoon information,” and something called a “live blog typhoon.” Being a Shanghai expat of the public-minded variety, here – direct from Hurricane Zone – is the latest radar image of Krosa, the latest typhoon with Shanghai in its sights [UPDATE 8 October: most recent image as of 7:30 PM.]:

If, like me, you take an unhealthy interest in following the course of this storm (which is not expected to hit Shanghai directly; which means, of course, that it will), there are several China-based sources of information that can provide you with detailed and up-to-date images and data (a special thanks to “Shan” – who posted all of these links to the comments thread to my “live” Wipha post).

• The nifty site maintained by the Shanghai Meteorological Bureau. Not only does it include really great weather imagery, it also includes an interesting history of the Bureau (including an indirect acknowledgment of its Jesuit origins).

• China’s national’s Meteorological Assocation offers very detailed information, though I’ve found that the English-language section on the Shanghai Burea site is a little more user-friendly when it comes to tracking massive typhoons.

• Zejiang Province maintains a very technical (and, to my eyes, scientific) site.
• Finally, typhoon imagery from Guangdong may be found here and here.

Signing off, for now, from the 7th Floor Weather Bureau …