Typhoon Wipha

(click on image for enlargement)

What kind of name is that anyway? Typhoon Wipha?

At present Typhoon Wipha is descending on Shanghai and the surrounding provinces and true to form the rain and winds are starting to whip about. Although Shanghai mostly only ever gets hit by the tail end of typhoons (read: a bit of rain and wind, but nothing to make you want to stock up in preparation for armegeddon), Typhoon Wipha "may bring to Shanghai the most serious typhoon damage in recent years".

The best information today says that Wipha will either be upgraded to a Super Typhoon (from its current status of severe) or it could just switch directions and fizzle out. I guess the responsible thing for me to do today is to make sure there are no potential projectiles loose on the balcony and check that we have enough water, food, and, more importantly, DVDs to ride out the worst case senario.

So I'll let you know tomorrow if Typhoon Wipha turned out to be Typhoon Whiplash or just plain Typhoon Wimpy.

UPDATED: 4.20pm Tuesday- the rain is picking up, as is the wind, and the forecast is not great-

"This is the first time in 10 years that the eye of the storm will probably make landfall in Shanghai," said Ding Ruoyang, a meteorologist at the Shanghai Meteorological Bureau. (AFP.)

The typhoon is expected to hit the coast in the early hours of tomorrow morning (Wednesday), though 200,000 residents of dilapidated or temporary housing are being evacuated by 6pm tonight. Knowing Shanghai's typhoon history, it may still blow over, but I did just duck out through the rain to the supermarket to stock up on the essentials anyway.

However, the best news so far is that school is cancelled for tomorrow, and possibly Thursday also. I'm starting to like Typhoon Wipha.