Typhoon Soulik Hits Taiwan

I've seen my fair share of snow days, but this week I experienced my first typhoon day.  Typhoon Soulik swept across Taiwan late Friday evening/early Saturday morning, bringing with it heavy rains, 180 km/h winds, and thankfully only minimal damage.  Word of the typhoon spread all week, and the question on everyone's mind was whether or not we would be working on Friday, but come Friday morning the weather showed no indication of the impending storm.  As the afternoon progressed the winds began to pick up speed, and by 6pm all businesses in Changhua county (as well as the majority of the island) were instructed to close.  The most noticeable sign of the typhoon by that time in the afternoon was the wind speed, which was strong enough to blow scooters from side to side and tip their drivers to sharp angles as they drove along the roads.  After getting off work, then stocking up on a weekend's supply of food so I wouldn't starve while I was rained in to my apartment, I decided to throw caution to the wind (no pun intended) and went to a typhoon party on my friend's roof.  We watched as the winds picked up and the storm approached Changhua, and retreated to the safety of indoors when the rain started.  The storm continued until mid-afternoon on Saturday when the rains stopped, (some) businesses re-opened, the railways reopened, and the fallen trees and signs were cleaned up.
So, what is a typhoon?  For those of you in the states, you are probably more accustomed to the term 'hurricane', but a typhoon is a hurricane which forms in the northwestern portion of the Pacific Ocean.  In order for a typhoon to develop there are 6 requirements: warm sea-surface temperature, atmospheric instability, high humidity in the troposphere, development of a low-pressure center, a pre-existing low-level focus, and a low vertical wind shear.  After achieving these developing steps, then attaining a wind-speed of at least 119km/h, the storm can be sorted into one of five "western stages" or one of three "Taiwan stages" of typhoon strength categories (based on it's fastest wind speed measurements, Typhoon Soulik was measured as a 3 on the western scale, and a 2 on the Taiwan scale, when it hit the island).
On average, Taiwan experiences 27 tropical storms every year, but the majority of these are not strong enough to be classified as typhoons.  Soulik was the 7th tropical storm of the year, but the first typhoon.

Hurricane Soulik as it passes over Taiwan on July 13th

The rest of the weekend was filled with more rain than adventure.  We seemed to stay indoors for the majority of the daylight hours, and ventured out only for food, drinks, and a movie.  The weird thing about this is that, while the storm seems to have encouraged a couch potato attitude in myself (and most of my friends), the majority of the weekend was not actually raining.  I can't speak for everyone else, but for me it was just nice to get some reading done, cook a few meals (which is something I haven't done nearly enough of this year), and take care of some cleaning (which admittedly is not finished, but I guess that's what next weekend will be for).

Dinner at Chinese City