The Central Weather Bureau (CWB) yesterday issued a sea alert for Tropical Storm Cimaron, adding that residents in Taitung and Hualien, as well as the Hengchun Peninsula, should be on the alert for heavy rainfall.
The bureau said that the storm, which formed at 8am, was named by the Philippines. A cimaron is a type of wild ox.
As of 5:30pm, the center of the storm was 230km south of Oluanpi (鵝鑾鼻). It was moving northwest at 19kph. The storm has winds of 65kph and is 100km in radius.
Photo: CNA
The sea alert applies to vessels operating in the Bashi Channel, the Taiwan Strait and around the Dongsha Islands (東沙群島, Pratas Islands).
Hsieh Ming-chang (謝明昌), a section chief at the bureau, said the storm does not have a solid structure, making it unlikely that it would increase in power.
He said that the storm is likely to bring heavy rainfall to Hualien and Taitung counties and the Hengchun Peninsula. Based on the bureau’s forecast, the storm would move into the Taiwan Strait before continuing to China.
“If the storm moves closer to the coast of Taiwan, heavy rainfall in eastern, southeastern and southern regions is likely to last longer,” Hsieh said. “If the storm moves farther away from the nation, the rainfall in these regions will become shorter.”
Hsieh added that the chances that the bureau would issue a land alert for Taiwan proper were low, but the bureau could issue a land alert for residents of Penghu and Kinmen because the storm could sweep through that area.
National Central University adjunct associate professor of atmospheric sciences Daniel Wu (吳德榮) said that Cimaron is between Taiwan and Luzon Island, and does not have a broad sea area that would allow it to develop into a typhoon. He said that chances of rain would be high in the Hengchun Peninsula and the mountainous areas in eastern and southern regions today. Regions north of Tainan are expected to be less affected by the storm.
The storm might cause flooding in the Hengchun Peninsula and Taitung, but it is not expected to bring rain to Taipei, Wu said.
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