Tropical Depression — Northern Marianas, Guam

2025-08-07 to 2025-08-08 · Northern Marianas, Guam

Event narrative

Podul (16W) originated as a weak circulation, monitored as Joint Typhoon Warning Center (JTWC) Invest 98W, that drifted west-southwest from well east-northeast of the far northern Marianas. At 1PM ChST (Aug 7th), 98W became Tropical Depression (TD) 16W, and forecasts showed a quick turn turn toward the northwest as it steadily intensified into a tropical storm. TD 16W would become Tropical Storm (TS) Podul at 1 AM on August 8th, to the northeast of Agrihan Island. Scatterometer (ASCAT) data and JTWC wind forecasts showed tropical storm winds remained north of the far northern Marianas (Agrihan, Pagan, and Alamagan), though satellite imagery showed an exposed LLCC which caused heavier convection to be displaced south due to northeasterly wind shear aloft, bring heavy rain to the far northern islands. The northern islands of the Marianas are sparsely populated and no observational data exist for the 3 islands. Once Podul was northwest of the Marianas late on August 8th, storm motion became westerly and Podul would become a Typhoon at 7AM August 12th as it left WFO Guam's area of responsibility, west of 130E. Podul would eventually make land fall in southern Taiwan, and would eventually dissipate after making landfall in mainland China on August 14th.

Wider weather episode

Podul (16W) originated as a weak circulation, monitored as Joint Typhoon Warning Center (JTWC) Invest 98W, that drifted west-southwest from well east-northeast of the far northern Marianas. At 1PM ChST (Aug 7th), 98W became Tropical Depression (TD) 16W, and forecasts showed a quick turn turn toward the northwest as it steadily intensified into a tropical storm. TD 16W would become Tropical Storm (TS) Podul at 1 AM on August 8th, to the northeast of Agrihan Island. Scatterometer (ASCAT) data and JTWC wind forecasts showed tropical storm winds remained north of the far northern Marianas (Agrihan, Pagan, and Alamagan), though satellite imagery showed an exposed LLCC which caused heavier convection to be displaced south due to northeasterly wind shear aloft, bring heavy rain to the far northern islands. Once Podul was northwest of the Marianas, the storm potion became westerly and Podul would become a Typhoon as it left WFO Guam's area of responsibility, west of 130E. Podul would eventually make land fall in southern Taiwan, and would eventually dissipate after making landfall in mainland China on August 14th.

Source: NOAA Storm Events Database, event_id 1293501. Narrative written by the NWS forecast office that issued the report.