Rain is to increase from Wednesday morning as Severe Tropical Storm Kong-Rey approaches, with sea warnings to be issued as early as tomorrow afternoon, the Central Weather Administration (CWA) said today.
As of 8am, Kong-Rey was 1,050km east-southeast of the Hengchun Peninsula (恆春) heading in a northwesterly direction toward Taiwan, CWA Forecast Center Director Lin Po-tung (林伯東) said.
Rainfall is to increase from Wednesday morning, especially in northern Taiwan and Yilan County, he said.
Photo courtesy of the Central Weather Administration
A sea warning is possible from tomorrow afternoon, while a land warning may be issued on Wednesday morning, he added.
Kong-Rey may intensify into a moderate typhoon as it passes into the waters southeast of Taiwan tomorrow, bringing the greatest effects on Thursday and Friday, Lin said.
According to the CWA’s latest projection, the storm is on track to hit the Taitung area on Thursday and cross over southern Taiwan before turning northeastward through the Taiwan Strait.
Photo courtesy of the Central Weather Administration
However, Lin said that the storm’s path is still uncertain and could even skirt the east coast without passing over the central mountain range.
If the storm arrives on Friday, it would be the first in 57 years to make landfall in November since Typhoon Gilda on Nov. 8, 1967.
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