Typhoon USAGI hit southern JAPAN on Thursday August 2, 2007 with heavy rain and strong winds. This was the second time within three weeks that a strong typhoon had hit Japan. The previous month a deadly typhoon called MAN-YI also hit Southern Japan. Typhoon USAGI became the 5th named tropical cyclone and the fourth typhoon in the West Pacific 2007 season after forming in the Northern Marianas Islands.

The image on the right is a rainfall analysis using data collected by the Tropical Rainfall Measuring Mission (TRMM) satellite on 2 August 2007 at 1127UTC. This analysis shows very heavy rainfall with USAGI when it was over the southern Japanese island of Kyushu. Rain rates in the center of the satellite swath were based on the TRMM Precipitation Radar (PR), and those in the outer swath on the TRMM Microwave Imager(TMI). The rain rates were overlaid on infrared (IR) data from the TRMM Visible Infrared Scanner (VIRS).