Tropical depression TD22, which was over waters south of the Ryukyu Islands, is likely to develop into a tropical storm by this morning and pose a significant threat to Taiwan next week, the Central Weather Administration (CWA) said yesterday.
The depression is likely to strengthen into a tropical storm named Krathon as it moves south and then veers north toward waters off Taiwan’s eastern coast, CWA forecaster Hsu Chung-yi (徐仲毅) said.
Given the favorable environmental conditions for its development, TD22’s intensity would reach at least typhoon levels, Hsu said.
Photo: Screen grab from the Central Weather Administration’s Web site
As of 2pm yesterday, the tropical depression was about 610km east-southeast of Taiwan proper’s southernmost point, Oluanpi (鵝鑾鼻), moving south-southwest at 14kph, CWA data showed.
It was packing maximum sustained winds of 54kph and gusts of up to 82.8kph, the data showed.
The wind and rain associated with the storm’s outer rim are expected to intensify over the weekend, with the system potentially coming closest to Taiwan on Tuesday or Wednesday next week, Hsu said.
By then, it is likely to bring torrential rainfall to northern, central and eastern regions, while a sea or land warning would also be possible, he added.
As a precaution, the Forestry and Nature Conservation Agency announced that forest parks in northern and eastern Taiwan might be closed tomorrow.
Meanwhile, TD21 developed into Tropical Storm Jebi yesterday afternoon, but it is forecast to move north toward Japan and is not likely to affect Taiwan, the CWA said.
As of 2pm yesterday, Jebi was packing maximum sustained winds of 64.8kph and gusts of up to 90kph, it said.
US climber Alex Honnold is to attempt to scale Taipei 101 without a rope and harness in a live Netflix special on Jan. 24, the streaming platform announced on Wednesday. Accounting for the time difference, the two-hour broadcast of Honnold’s climb, called Skyscraper Live, is to air on Jan. 23 in the US, Netflix said in a statement. Honnold, 40, was the first person ever to free solo climb the 900m El Capitan rock formation in Yosemite National Park — a feat that was recorded and later made into the 2018 documentary film Free Solo. Netflix previewed Skyscraper Live in October, after videos
Starting on Jan. 1, YouBike riders must have insurance to use the service, and a six-month trial of NT$5 coupons under certain conditions would be implemented to balance bike shortages, a joint statement from transportation departments across Taipei, New Taipei City and Taoyuan announced yesterday. The rental bike system operator said that coupons would be offered to riders to rent bikes from full stations, for riders who take out an electric-assisted bike from a full station, and for riders who return a bike to an empty station. All riders with YouBike accounts are automatically eligible for the program, and each membership account
NUMBERS IMBALANCE: More than 4 million Taiwanese have visited China this year, while only about half a million Chinese have visited here Beijing has yet to respond to Taiwan’s requests for negotiation over matters related to the recovery of cross-strait tourism, the Tourism Administration said yesterday. Taiwan’s tourism authority issued the statement after Chinese-language daily the China Times reported yesterday that the government’s policy of banning group tours to China does not stop Taiwanese from visiting the country. As of October, more than 4.2 million had traveled to China this year, exceeding last year. Beijing estimated the number of Taiwanese tourists in China could reach 4.5 million this year. By contrast, only 500,000 Chinese tourists are expected in Taiwan, the report said. The report
Temperatures are forecast to drop steadily as a continental cold air mass moves across Taiwan, with some areas also likely to see heavy rainfall, the Central Weather Administration (CWA) said. From today through early tomorrow, a cold air mass would keep temperatures low across central and northern Taiwan, and the eastern half of Taiwan proper, with isolated brief showers forecast along Keelung’s north coast, Taipei and New Taipei City’s mountainous areas and eastern Taiwan, it said. Lows of 11°C to 15°C are forecast in central and northern Taiwan, Yilan County, and the outlying Kinmen and Lienchiang (Matsu) counties, and 14°C to 17°C
RSS