Tropical Storm Jangmi barrels toward Japan with heavy rain, damaging winds

Tropical Storm Jangmi is barreling towards Japan, bringing its first impacts to the Ryukyu Islands, including Okinawa, before it's expected to weaken as it approaches the mainland.

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Heavy rain and strong winds have already taken hold as the center of the storm sits just to the west of Okinawa in the Ryukyu Islands, just south of mainland Japan.

Evacuations have been ordered throughout multiple Okinawa municipalities, with emergency shelters open. Travel has been disrupted with hundreds of flights canceled through Tuesday.

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The Naha Airport, which handles almost all major domestic and international flights, has closed for a full day on Monday for safety. 

Jangmi developed into a typhoon on Saturday, before weakening to a tropical storm on Monday. 

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The tropical storm is currently battering Japan's Ryukyu Islands with damaging winds and heavy rain.

This includes the island of Okinawa, where the U.S. maintains a large military presence across multiple bases. 

Kadena Air Base has reported a wind gust of 74 mph, and Naha International Airport reported a gust of 77 mph.

By Wednesday in Japan, Jangmi will begin to affect the Japanese mainland.

The storm should be weakening at that point. However, a notable punch of rain and winds possibly topping 50 mph, will be likely for cities such as Osaka, Hamamatsu and Tokyo. 

According to the FOX Forecast Center, from 1991 to 2020, the Western Pacific typically averages 26 named storms, 16 typhoons, and nine major typhoons per season. 

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Following an active start to the season — which has already produced four named storms, a typhoon, and a major typhoon — the FOX Forecast Center notes that this trend could continue as El Niño intensifies.

Earlier this year, the second-strongest typhoon ever observed this early in the year occurred: Super Typhoon Sinlaku, which rapidly intensified into a super typhoon with 175 mph winds on April 12. 

This caused extensive damage across the Northern Mariana Islands as well as Guam.

Stick with FOX Weather as the storm develops.