The Central Weather Bureau yesterday said it was unlikely to issue a sea alert for Tropical Storm Yagi, which was moving toward China’s Zhenjiang Province.
A strong high-pressure system has caused Yagi, the 14th Pacific storm this year, to move westward and come near Taiwan on its path toward China, the bureau said.
Yagi’s peripheral clouds brought showers to northern Taiwan yesterday morning, while temperatures in Yilan and Hualien counties reached a high of 36?C yesterday due to a foehn wind generated by airflow from Yagi, it said.
Yagi’s peripheral clouds were also likely to hinder stargazers in central, southern and eastern Taiwan from viewing the Perseid meteor shower tonight, but people in the north have a better chance, as fewer clouds are expected.
The active phase of the Perseids, which are meteor showers associated with the comet Swift-Tuttle, generally lasts from the middle of July until late August. The maximum number of meteors was expected to occur last night and tonight.
The best time to watch the Perseid meteor showers in Taiwan is from 10pm until before dawn, the Taipei Astronomical Museum said, adding that the zenithal hourly rate (ZHR) of the Perseids this year could top 110 meteors.
Meanwhile, the bureau said this week’s weather is expected to be unstable.
From today until Saturday, the nation would be influenced by a low-pressure system, which would cause the humidity to rise, it said, adding that chances of occasional showers or thundershowers would be high as well.
Heavy rain could also occur in certain regions, the bureau said.
Due to the active development of tropical disturbances in the region, people interested in water sports were warned of the danger posed by rogue waves this week, which could occur along the east coast, along southern Taiwan as well as around Penghu.
Residents in low-lying areas in the southwest should be prepared for the possibility of inundation, as the sea tide is set to rise today, the bureau said.
Daniel Wu (吳德榮), former director of the bureau’s weather forecast center, said more tropical disturbances should be expected, as circulating currents of a monsoon depression system would be hovering over the northwest Pacific Ocean.
In addition, a tropical storm that formed at 2am yesterday near Guam is not expected to directly affect Taiwan, the bureau said.
Tropical Storm Leepi, which has room to develop into a stronger weather system, is moving toward Kyushu, Japan, it said.
Leepi was 2,120km east of Taipei as of 5pm, and was moving northwest at 21kph.
Weatherrisk Explore Inc (天氣風險管理開發) chief executive Peng Chi-ming (彭啟明) said that Leepi is expected to move toward the mouth of the Yangtze River, adding that it seems that typhoons or tropical storms this year prefer to travel to Shanghai.
However, the storm might still change its path, as it is too far away to tell at this point, he said.
The bureau has also identified another tropical depression near China’s Hainan Province.
However, the system has a low chance of turning into a tropical storm and is expected to continue moving northeast to Hainan and Guangdong provinces, the bureau said.
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