Sanba - Fouth Typhoon to Hit Korea In 2012

It's formation was first reported by the Korean Meteorological Administration in the morning of September 11. 

By September 13th, it seemed pretty certain that it would pass over, or very near to, the Korean peninsula.  It also looked like it would become as powerful as Bolaven, which caused much damage on Jeju island and on the western side of the peninsula in August.  Some feared that it could damage a lot of crops just ahead of Chuseok (추석), the Korean thanksgiving holiday.

By September 15th, it had grown in strength and in size, packing winds as fast as 180 km/h. 

On September 16, it passed over the Japanese islands of Okinawa, causing flooding and leaving many residents of the island without power.  That night, in Busan, the sun set behind a think veil of clouds, swiftly circulating westward over the city as they swirled towards the center of the storm.

A view of Busan near sunset, on Sunday Sept 16th.

Another view of the city, near sunset on Sunday Sept 16th.

In the early hours of September 17th, it approached Korean waters, it's eye still distinguishable by Korean weather satellites.  At sunrise, the sky above the city was still completely overcast, and thick clouds with low-hanging tails dropped copious quantities of rain over the city.

Busan just after sunrise, on Monday Sept 17th.

The buildings of SeoMyeon, barely distinguishable in the clouds and pouring rain.

Around 9AM, the storm finally reached the peninsular mainland.  By noon, it was almost directly over Busan.  And by evening, it was dissipating over the ocean, to the east of North Korea, having cleared the entire peninsula.

In Busan, typhoon Sanba was far more intense than Bolaven or Tembin, with strong gales capable of bending and breaking small trees.  On Monday, waves pushed by the storm's strong winds broke violently on the seashore near the city.   Starting on Saturday, it dumped over 800 mm of rain on the peninsula, which resulted in landslides and flooding in some low-lying areas.  Over 450,000 homes lost electrical power as a result of the storm.  One person was confirmed dead by late Monday evening.

Typhoon Sanba was the fourth typhoon to hit the Korean peninsula this year.  It was the first time since 1962 that four typhoons passed over Korea in a single year.

Blue Moons and Lunar Leap Months

On the evening of August 31, a blue moon will rise over North America.  No, the moon will not appear blue to the naked eye.  Rather, it will be the 2nd full moon to rise in the month of August.

Usually, only one full moon occurs in every calendar month.  But, about once every 3 years, there will be one month in the year with 2 full moons.  The reason is because it takes the moon about 29 days to go around the Earth.  That is, each full moon occurs about 29 days after the previous one.  But a calendar month is 28-31 days long.  So in most months, the full moon occurs a few days earlier than it did the month before.  And so, about once every three years, there will be a month where a full moon occurs very early in the month, and a second full moon occurs again before the month is over.  This month, the first full moon occurred on August 2, and now a second one is occurring on August 31.

Notably, this particular blue moon is the first to occur since the death of Neil Armstrong, the first human being to walk on the moon.  Neil Armstrong was the commander of the Apollo 11 spacecraft, which landed on the moon on July 20, 1969.  It was Armstrong who said, upon setting foot on the moon for the first time:  "That's one small step for man, one giant leap for mankind".   He died on August 25.


In North America, a blue moon is a slightly unusual astronomical event, and not much more.  But in Asia, it's a much more significant phenomena.

Many Asian countries operate on a lunisolar calendar, that is a calendar that is based in part on the motion of the moon, and in part on the motion of the Earth around the sun.  In North American, the calendar is entirely solar.  In this calendar, the time it takes the Earth to go around the sun (one solar year) is divided into 12 months, which have approximately, but not exactly, the same number of days.  In a lunisolar calendar, a month is defined as the time it takes the moon to go around the Earth.  Thus, each month of the year has exactly the same number of days, that is 29 days.  This is because it takes the moon 29 days to go around the Earth.  During most solar years, there are 12 full moons.  Therefore, there are 12 lunar months in most solar years.  However, in some solar years (essentially the same years in which a blue moon occurs), there are 13 full moons, and therefore 13 months in the year.  In such years, the 13th month is called a "lunar leap month".

The full moon (but not a blue one) rising over the GwangAn bridge.

The Korean calendar is lunisolar.  They use the same calendar as North Americans do for everyday purposes, but the dates of some important holidays are set according to a lunar calendar.  This is why Chuseok (추석), the Korean thanksgiving holiday, and Sollal (설날), the Korean new-year holiday, occur at different dates every year.

In Korean, a leap month is called a yun-dal (윤달).  The last leap month occurred between April 21 and May 20 of this year.  For some Koreans, a leap month is traditionally a period during which the gods are not paying too much attention to the activities of humans.  So, a leap month is the best time to do things that are not likely to be seen in a favourable light by one's ancestors, like digging up their remains and having them cremated.

The idea of cremating a deceased relative after having already buried him / her may appear odd.  However, this happens quite often these days, in Korea, as a result of recent changes in the local burial customs.  Traditionally, Koreans have buried their deceased relatives in simple burial mounds, usually on the many mountains that dot the Korean countryside.  But because the population of Korea has grown so large, mountain burials have recently been outlawed, or at least officially discouraged, for obvious practical reasons.  Furthermore, the government encourages families whose relatives are already buried on mountains to have their remains cremated and relocated.  According to one news article, so many families have chosen to do this during the last leap month that the city of Seoul had to double its offering of cremation services during that period.

A burial mound by a tree, in HaeSinDang park.

A small burial mound in a clearing on GeumJeong mountain, in Busan.

A small Christian graveyard, on GeumJeong mountain, in Busan.