Typhoon Longwang, which means "dragon king" in Mandarin, became the third super typhoon this year to hit Taiwan and continue on to make landfall in China. The others were Haitang and Talim. Longwang became a depression just west of the Northern Mariana Islands in the far eastern part of the Philippine Sea on the 26th of September 2005 (local time). The storm moved westward and quickly gathered strength, becoming a typhoon on the 27th and a super typhoon on the 28th. After traversing the Philippine Sea, Longwang plowed right over Taiwan on the 2nd of October (local time) where winds were recorded up to 230 kph (143 mph). The storm left one person missing and one dead in Taiwan. Longwang then continued on across the Taiwan straight and struck Fujian Province in southeast China. Three people were reported killed, and 59 police cadets are missing after flood waters swept away their buildings.

Launched in 1997, the Tropical Rainfall Measuring Mission (TRMM) satellite has served as a valuable platform for monitoring tropical cyclones, especially over remote parts of the ocean. These images of Longwang were captured by TRMM as the storm closed in on Taiwan. The first image was taken at 20:44 UTC on 29 September 2005 as Longwang was passing through the central Philippine Sea. The image shows the horizontal distribution of rain intensity inside the storm. Rain rates in the center of the swath are from the TRMM Precipitation Radar (PR), the only spaceborne radar of its kind, while those in the outer portion are from the TRMM Microwave Imager (TMI). The rain rates are overlaid on infrared (IR) data from the TRMM Visible Infrared Scanner (VIRS). A large, intense ring of heavy rain (red areas) surrounds the center and may indicate the beginning of an eyewall replacement cycle. Rain features surrounding the eye are all well-banded (i.e., tightly curved), which is consisent with the mature circulation of an intense tropical cyclone. At the time of this image, Longwang was a Category 4 typhoon with maximum sustained winds estimated at 130 knots (150 mph) by the Joint Typhoon Warning Center.

The next image captures Longwang just as the center was making landfall on the east coast of Taiwan. The image was taken at 20:27 UTC on the 1st of October 2005. The western half of the eyewall is already over the coast while the centers sits just offshore. A sizeable area of very intense rain (dark read area) is present in the eastern half of the eyewall. The next image was taken at the same time and shows a 3D rendering of the storm courtesy of the TRMM PR. The vertical height of the isosurface (15 dBZ) is determined by the height of precipitation-sized particles as measured by the TRMM PR. Tall towers (in red) near the center are associated with the areas of intense rainfall in the eyewall. At the time of these images, Longwang was still a Category 4 typhoon with sustained winds of 115 knots (132 mph). After crossing Taiwan, the storm would later weaken to a Category 1 typhoon before hitting mainland China.

TRMM is a joint mission between NASA and the Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency (JAXA).

Images produced by Hal Pierce (SSAI/NASA GSFC) and caption by Steve Lang (SSAI/NASA GSFC).