Early on Sept. 12 Tropical Depression 19W formed east of Vietnam. NASA's Aqua satellite passed over the South China Sea and captured a visible image of the storm that had quickly started moving over Vietnam.
When Aqua passed over the South China Sea, the center or Tropical Depression 19W (TD19W) was located over the sea, and just east of central Vietnam. The Moderate Resolution Imaging Spectroradiometer or MODIS instrument aboard Aqua captured a picture of the storm that showed bands of thunderstorms wrapping around the western side of the center were already over land.
At 1500 UTC (11 a.m. EDT) on Sept. 12, TD19W was located about 97 miles southeast of Da Nang, Vietnam, near 15.1 degrees north latitude and 109.7 degrees east longitude. It had maximum sustained winds near 34.5 mph (30 knots/55.5 kph) and is not expected to strengthen as it moves northwest at 16.1 mph (14 knots/25.9 kph) toward landfall.
On Sept. 12 NASA's Aqua satellite passed over Tropical Depression 19W in the South China Sea and captured this visible image of the storm already moving over Vietnam (left). Credit: Credits: NASA
The Joint Typhoon Warning Center forecast calls for 19W to move ashore in central Vietnam within 12 hours and dissipate inland.
source: NASA/Goddard Space Flight Center