‘Zombie typhoon’ Halola could threaten Japan

What some storm watchers are calling a “zombie typhoon” has risen from near death and is back at typhoon strength in the Western Pacific Tuesday.

Typhoon Halola reached maximum sustained winds of 95 mph Tuesday between the Mariana Islands and Japan, and was on a path that could take it over Japan this weekend, Accuweather.com said.

The storm formed in the Central Pacific south of Hawaii on July 10 and was given a Hawaiian name.

It strengthened into a typhoon and moved into the West Pacific, briefly threatening Wake Island as a tropical storm last week, before wind shear ripped it apart and weakened it back into a tropical depression.

The storm-tracking website Westpacwx.com said Halola was “beyond death” over the weekend before it entered an area of warmer water and favorable winds that helped it reanimate back into a tropical storm and reach typhoon strength Tuesday.

Halola is forecast to strengthen slightly over the next two days, before it hits wind shear again and weakens as it nears Japan.

It could make landfall in Kyushu, Shikoku or southern Honshu this weekend, Accuweather.com predicted.

Halola could become the first tropical cyclone to originate in the central Pacific Ocean and make landfall in Japan since Super Typhoon Oliwa in September 1997, according to Accuweather.com.

Meanwhile in the East Pacific, the National Hurricane Center in Miami is watching an area of tropical weather about 550 miles south-southeast of Baja California that has an 80 percent chance of developing into a tropical cyclone in the next two days and a 90 percent chance of development in the next 5 days.

The system is moving to the west-northwest, but is too far away from Hawaii to predict if it will have an effect on the state’s weather.