LOOK: Typhoon Rolly and Metro Manila seen from space

MANILA – Japan’s Himawari-8 geostationary weather satellite has captured images of Metro Manila and Typhoon Rolly, which is expected to hit Luzon this weekend.

Metro Manila is brightly lit and the Philippines is partially covered by clouds in the center of a photo, while the tropical cyclone, with its pin-eye, is seen in a spiral shape to the right.

Rolly (international name Goni), reached super typhoon status on Friday, according to the tropical cyclone category of the Joint Typhoon Warning Center (JTWC) of the United States Navy and United States Air Force (JTWC). In the pacific.

The Japan Meteorological Agency on Friday classified Rolly as a “violent typhoon”, the highest in its classification of tropical cyclones.

Rolly, which currently has maximum sustained winds of 150 knots (277.8 kilometers per hour) and gusts reaching 180 knots (333.36 kph) according to JTWC one-minute average readings, is the world’s strongest typhoon in so far this year.

By comparison, Super Typhoon Yolanda recorded maximum sustained winds of 315 km / h at 1-minute average readings just before making landfall in 2013.

Typhoon Rolly is expected to weaken as it approaches the Philippine landmass and undergoes an eye wall replacement cycle, according to JTWC.

The tropical cyclone is likely to have peaked as it moves toward the Philippines, but “there is a possibility of a slightly higher peak” in the next 12 hours, the US military meteorological office said.

“After making landfall, the system will transit through the mountainous terrain of central Luzon, re-emerging in the South China Sea as a 65-knot typhoon minimum after weakening significantly under the combined influence of terrain interaction, increasing vws ( vertical wind shear) and drier, colder air entrainment from the northeast, “JTWC added.

The Philippine state meteorological office, PAGASA, said on Friday that Typhoon Rolly’s eye was likely to make landfall over the Aurora-Quezon area on Sunday night or early Monday morning at an intensity of 175 kph to 195 kph. kph, based on average readings of 10 minutes maximum. sustained winds.

In addition to destructive winds and torrential rains, the typhoon can unleash a storm surge of up to two meters in the coastal areas of Aurora, Quezón, Marinduque, the Bicol region and northern Samar, warned PAGASA.