The Central Weather Bureau (CWB) yesterday said it could issue a sea or land alert for Typhoon Dujuan tomorrow as the storm moves closer to the nation’s north and northeast coasts.
Bureau data showed the center of Dujuan was about 1,190km southeast of Eluanbi (鵝鑾鼻) at 2pm yesterday, with a radius of about 200km. It was moving northwesterly at a speed of about 15kph.
By 2pm today, the typhoon is forecast to move 970km east of Oluanbi, the bureau said.
Photo: CWB
The bureau’s forecast showed that the nation would experience a strong northeast monsoon today, with a higher chance of rain forecast for the windward part of the northern region.
The bureau said that the chance for showers would be high in northern Taiwan tomorrow due to the influence of the typhoon’s circumfluence. People in central and eastern Taiwan can expect isolated showers, while those in the southern and southeastern regions can expect cloudy skies.
People planning to watch the moon for Moon Festival would have better luck if they go to southern Taiwan, the bureau said.
With Dujuan forecast to be at its closest point to Taiwan between Monday and Tuesday, the chance for showers is high nationwide. However, the rainfall would be more obvious in northern, northeastern and central Taiwan, the bureau said, adding that people in those regions can expect continuous rainfall.
While Dujuan is forecast to track near the northeast and the north coasts of Taiwan before heading west toward China, the bureau said that there remain possibilities that the storm’s path of movement might change. The intensity and amount of rainfall that the storm could bring depends on how close the typhoon tracks to the nation, the bureau said.
The bureau also advised people living near coastal and low-lying areas to beware of flooding as a rare “supermoon” — in which a full moon or a new moon makes its closest approach to the Earth in its elliptical orbit — would also trigger a “supertide.”
This is not the first time that the Moon Festival holiday is expected to be disrupted by a tropical storm or a typhoon. Statistics from the bureau showed that six typhoons hit Taiwan when the nation was preparing to celebrate one of the major holidays of the year in the past 25 years, including Typhoon Nat in 1991, Typhoon Zane in 1996, Typhoon Meari in 2004, Typhoon Sinlaku in 2008, Typhoon Parma in 2009 and Typhoon Usagi in 2013.
The bureau issued sea alerts for all six typhoons, and land alerts were issued for typhoons Nat and Sinlaku.
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