The track of Tropical Storm Nuri

Nuri is the name of a species of blue parakeets native to Malaysia. This parakeet killed seven when it hit the Philippines earlier this week.

The 13th tropical storm of the season is about to slam into the Hong Kong/Shenzhen area of China. Much weakened, Tropical Storm Nuri (nee Typhoon Nuri) will boast winds of up to 73 miles per hour.

It’s been a bad year for tropical storms in the northern pacific. Typhoon Fengshen left 730 people dead and 637 missing on the island of Samar. Tropical Storm Kammuri killed 119 in Vietnam when it rolled through in early August. Forty died in China from the resulting floods.

Tropical Storm Nuri is expected to arrive early August 23, luckily, after the completion of the Olympic Equestrian events in Hong Kong. Kammuri disrupted the arrival of horses and athletes before the start of the games.

As I looked out the window early this morning (5:30 am GMT +8) the clouds were racing across the sky, strange and ominously shaped. A harbinger of things to come?

I’ll batten down the hatches, again. Just in time for the weekend…