WDPN31 PGTW 130900 MSGID/GENADMIN/JOINT TYPHOON WRNCEN PEARL HARBOR HI// SUBJ/PROGNOSTIC REASONING FOR TROPICAL STORM 16W (NANGKA) WARNING NR 004// RMKS/ 1. FOR METEOROLOGISTS. 2. 6 HOUR SUMMARY AND ANALYSIS. SUMMARY: INITIAL POSITION: 27.8N 149.9E INITIAL INTENSITY: 35 KTS GEOGRAPHIC REFERENCE: 496 NM EAST-NORTHEAST OF IWO TO MOVEMENT PAST 6 HOURS: NORTHEASTWARD AT 21 KTS SIGNIFICANT WAVE HEIGHT: 13 FEET SATELLITE ANALYSIS, INITIAL POSITION AND INTENSITY DISCUSSION: ANIMATED MULTISPECTRAL SATELLITE IMAGERY (MSI) DEPICTS AN ELONGATED LOW-LEVEL CIRCULATION CENTER (LLCC), WITH THE FAR SOUTHWESTERN PERIPHERY BEGINNING TO BECOME EXPOSED OUTSIDE OF THE CONVECTIVE CIRRUS SHIELD. OVER THE PAST SIX HOURS, THE SYSTEM HAS MOVED OVER A MUCH WARMER POOL OF OCEANIC WATERS NORTH OF A COLD-WATER WAKE ASSOCIATED WITH THE RECENT PASSAGE OF STY BAVI. SIMULTANEOUSLY, THE SYSTEM HAS MOVED UNDER A REGION OF HIGHLY DIVERGENT UPPER-LEVEL FLOW, WHICH HAS TRIGGERED A RECENT BURST IN INTENSE CONVECTION. EARLIER SCATTEROMETER DATA INDICATED THAT THE LLCC HAS CONSOLIDATED BENEATH THE CONVECTION, AT LEAST TEMPORARILY. HOWEVER, STRONG SOUTHWESTERLY SYNOPTIC FLOW IS GENERATING HIGH (25-30 KT) VERTICAL WIND SHEAR (VWS). DRY MID-LEVEL AIR IS ALSO BEGINNING TO INTRUDE FROM THE WEST. THE INITIAL POSITION IS ASSESSED WITH LOW CONFIDENCE BASED ON AN EXTRAPOLATION OF A 130327Z AMSR2 89GHZ MICROWAVE IMAGE. THE INITIAL INTENSITY IS ASSESSED WITH MEDIUM CONFIDENCE BASED ON A BLEND OF THE OBJECTIVE AND SUBJECTIVE INTENSITY ESTIMATES OUTLINED BELOW. ENVIRONMENTAL CONDITIONS ARE MARGINAL, WITH WARM SSTS AND STRONG POLEWARD OUTFLOW ALOFT OFFSET BY HIGH VWS AND DRY AIR ENTRAINMENT. INITIAL WIND RADII BASIS: PERSISTENCE CURRENT STEERING MECHANISM: NORTHERN FLANK OF A LOW- TO MID-LEVEL NEAR EQUATORIAL RIDGE (NER) AS WELL AS A BAND OF MONSOONAL WEST-SOUTHWESTERLY FLOW ASSOCIATED WITH A REVERSE ORIENTED MONSOON TROUGH. AGENCY DVORAK AND AUTOMATED FIXES: PGTW: T2.5 - 35 KTS RJTD: T2.0 - 30 KTS RCTP: T2.5 - 35 KTS KNES: T2.0 - 30 KTS CIMSS SATCON: 4- KTS AT 130440Z CIMSS ADT: 37 KTS AT 130610Z CIMSS AIDT: 45 KTS AT 130610Z CIMSS D-MINT: 30 KTS AT 130406Z CIMSS D-PRINT: 37 KTS AT 130610Z FORECASTER ASSESSMENT OF CURRENT ENVIRONMENT: MARGINAL VWS: 25-30 KTS SST: 29-30 CELSIUS OUTFLOW: STRONG POLEWARD OTHER FACTORS: DRY AIR ENTRAINMENT ALONG THE WESTERN FLANK. ANALYSIS CONFIDENCE: INITIAL POSITION: LOW INITIAL INTENSITY: MEDIUM INITIAL WIND RADII: MEDIUM 3. FORECAST REASONING. SIGNIFICANT FORECAST CHANGES: THERE ARE NO SIGNIFICANT CHANGES TO THE FORECAST FROM THE PREVIOUS WARNING. FORECAST DISCUSSION: THE STEERING PATTERN CONTINUES TO EVOLVE AND REMAINS HIGHLY UNCERTAIN. THE GFS, REPRESENTING THE BULK OF THE PHYSICS-BASED DYNAMIC MODELS, DEPICTS AN EXTENSION OF THE NER BUILDING NORTHWARD ALONG 160E, WHILE SIMULTANEOUSLY A STR BUILDS SOUTHEASTWARD, ULTIMATELY MERGING INTO ONE NORTH-SOUTH ORIENTED RIDGE COMPLEX POSITIONED EAST OF TS 16W. THIS RESULTS IN THE BULK OF THE DYNAMIC MODELS TURNING THE SYSTEM NORTH, THEN NORTHWEST AFTER TAU 12. THE ECMWF, REPRESENTING THE BULK OF THE AI-BASED MODELS, DEPICTS ROUGHLY THE SAME OVERALL EVOLUTION OF THE STEERING PATTERN, ONLY DELAYED BY ABOUT 24 HOURS, WHICH ALLOWS TS 16W TO CONTINUE TRACKING EASTWARD FOR LONGER BEFORE ENTERING A WEAK AND COMPETING STEERING REGIME BY THE END OF THE FORECAST. THE EXPERIMENTAL JTWC SUPER-ENSEMBLE IS ALSO SHOWING A BIFURCATED TRACK ENVELOPE, WITH HALF OF THE MEMBERS TRACKING NORTHWARD, AND THE OTHER HALF MOVING EASTWARD AFTER TAU 12, THOUGH OF NOTE, THE ECEPS MEAN HAS NOW JOINED THE EASTWARD-MOVING GROUP. IN LIGHT OF THE RECENT SHIFT IN THE ECEPS AND ECMWF, TS 16W IS FORECAST TO CONTINUE TRACKING NORTHEASTWARD THROUGH THE ENTIRETY OF THE FORECAST PERIOD. TRACK SPEEDS WILL BEGIN TO DECREASE SHARPLY AFTER TAU 12, AS THE SYSTEM MOVES INTO A WEAK AND COMPETING STEERING ENVIRONMENT. REGARDING INTENSITY, THE SYSTEM WILL LIKELY BEGIN A RAPID VORTEX DECOUPLING WITHIN THE NEXT 12 TO 18 HOURS DUE TO STRONG SOUTHWESTERLY SHEAR AND INFLUX OF DRY MID-LEVEL AIR. AFTER DECOUPLING, THE SYSTEM WILL STEADILY WEAKEN AND ULTIMATELY DISSIPATE BY TAU 48. MODEL DISCUSSION: TRACK GUIDANCE DEPICTS AN EXTREME AMOUNT OF UNCERTAINTY, WITH THE CONSENSUS PACKAGE DIVERGING TO A 600NM CROSS-TRACK SPREAD BY TAU 48. THE NORTHWESTWARD GROUP CONSISTS OF NAVGEM, JGSM, UKMET ENSEMBLE, GFS, AND GEFS. ON THE OTHER END OF THE ENVELOPE ARE GOOGLE DEEPMIND, EC-AIFS, ECMWF, ECEPS, AND THE JTWC EXPERIMENTAL AI CONSENSUS MEAN ALONG WITH MULTIPLE GFS AI-VARIANTS. AS DISCUSSED ABOVE, ANALYSIS SUGGESTS THE EASTWARD TRACKING GROUP IS GAINING TRACTION, WITH SOME MAJOR MODELS SHIFTING SIDES WITH THIS RUN. LASTLY, A TRACK DENSITY ANALYSIS OF THE SUPER-ENSEMBLE MEMBERS SUGGESTS A FOCUS ON AN EASTWARD TRACK, LENDING HIGHER CONFIDENCE TO THE JTWC FORECAST TRACK. INTENSITY GUIDANCE IS IN GOOD AGREEMENT, BUT MAINTAINS THE SYSTEM AT A HIGHER INTENSITY FOR LONGER THAN THE JTWC FORECAST, AND DOES NOT REFLECT DISSIPATION UNTIL MUCH LATER. HOWEVER, BASED ON THE MARGINAL ENVIRONMENT, ANTICIPATED DRY AIR INTRUSION AND VORTEX DECOUPLING AND FRAGILE NATURE OF THE CORE DUE TO ITS SMALL SIZE, THE JTWC FORECAST DEVIATES FROM THE GUIDANCE, THOUGH CONFIDENCE REMAINS MEDIUM. FORECAST CONFIDENCE: TRACK 00-72 HR: MEDIUM INTENSITY 00-72 HR: MEDIUM// NNNN