NASA's Terra satellite captured a visible-light image of Tropical Storm Noru after it formed far to the east of Japan in the Northwestern Pacific Ocean.
Noru joins Tropical Storm Kulap and Tropical Depression 08W as newly formed tropical cyclones all on July 21.
On July 21 at 1:30 p.m. EDT, the Moderate Resolution Imaging Spectroradiometer or MODIS instrument aboard NASA's Terra satellite captured a visible light image of Tropical Storm Noru. Tropical Storm Kulap lies to Noru's west, and Tropical Depression 08W is in the South China Sea and lies to the east of Noru.
The visible MODIS image showed a large band of thunderstorms north and east of the low-level center of circulation. Strongest thunderstorms were isolated, east of the center. Enhanced infrared imagery showed that the low-level center was partially exposed to outside winds.
At July 21 at 11 a.m. EDT (1500 UTC), the center of Tropical Storm Noru was located near 28.0 degrees north latitude and 154.7 degrees east longitude. That's about 230 miles nautical miles north-northeast of Minami Tori Shima. Also known as Marcus Island, Minami Tori Shima is a Japanese coral atoll about 1,148 miles (1,848 kilometers) southeast of Tokyo.
Noru had maximum sustained winds near 40 mph (35 knots/62 kph). Noru was moving toward the west near 8 mph (7 knots/12.9 kph). The system is expected to move west, then become quasi-stationary over the next couple of days.
The Joint Typhoon Warning Center noted that warm sea surface temperatures were conducive to further development.
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