Super Typhoon Trami is likely to turn north and move toward Japan after approaching Taiwan’s east coast, the Central Weather Bureau said yesterday, adding that a sea alert might still be issued.
As of 2pm yesterday, the typhoon’s center, located 890km southeast of Oluanpi (鵝鑾鼻), was inching northward at 4kph, with a radius of 250km and maximum winds of 234kph, bureau data showed.
Gauging the development of Pacific high pressure again tomorrow would enable the bureau to predict the storm’s path more accurately, it said, adding that a weakening pressure system over the Pacific would move the typhoon northward, close to the Ryukyu Islands, and reduce its effect on Taiwan.
As of press time last night, the bureau forecast that the eye was not likely to make landfall in Taiwan. Although the typhoon’s projected path could change, the storm might pass between Taiwan and the Ryukyu Islands, the bureau said.
The typhoon’s circumference would bring rain to northern and eastern Taiwan, it said, adding that the rest of the nation could expect isolated showers.
The typhoon lacks a clear guiding airstream, which causes its center to appear stagnant, bureau technical specialist Wu Wan-hua (伍婉華) said, but added that the high-pressure system would keep Trami moving.
The bureau would continue to monitor how close the typhoon might come to the nation’s east coast before continuing northward, she said.
Whether a sea alert would be issued on Friday or Saturday needs further observation, she added.
Weather authorities worldwide have offered diverse predictions of Trami’s possible routes over the past few days, but the forecasts are becoming more similar, Weatherrisk Explore forecaster Lai Chun-wei (賴忠瑋) said.
“The forecasts showed that the Pacific high-pressure system would extend its influence toward the west, leading Trami toward Okinawa and Japan. Their projected paths showed that the typhoon would come closest to the nation on Saturday, approaching the northeast coast. Taiwan’s northern and northeastern regions would be close to the storm’s edge,” he said.
Former bureau forecast center director Daniel Wu (吳德榮) said the paths projected by weather authorities worldwide have a 70 percent uncertainty, meaning that Taiwan might not totally escape the typhoon.
More observation is needed, because Japan and the US have forecast that Taiwan would be enveloped by the storm, he added.
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