The fourth tropical storm to form in the western Pacific in the past 10 days, Tropical Storm Usagi, might affect Taiwan, with sea warnings possible as early as tomorrow, the Central Weather Administration (CWA) said yesterday.
As of 8am yesterday, Usagi had a radius of 80km and was 660km northwest of the Philippines’ Yap Islands, or approximately 1,660km east-southeast of Oluanpi (鵝鑾鼻), Taiwan proper’s southernmost point, CWA data showed.
The storm was moving west-northwest at 27kph, with maximum sustained winds of 72kph and gusts reaching up to 101kph, the data showed.
Photo: Screen grab from the Central Weather Administration’s Web site
Forecasts of the storm’s path varied among countries.
On Monday evening, the CWA said that Usagi’s path was trending north of its previous projections, which could lead to sea warnings being issued for waters near Taiwan.
CWA forecaster Chen Pei-an (陳姵安) said that the storm was likely to move northward tomorrow, but she was unsure whether it would head into the South China Sea through the Bashi Channel or affect waters east of Taiwan.
As of yesterday morning, CWA data showed the storm’s projected path entering waters east of Taiwan sometime over the weekend.
The formation of Usagi marked a rare instance of four tropical storms or upper-level weather systems coexisting in the western Pacific in November.
Tropical storms Yinxing, Toraji and Manyi were not forecast to affect Taiwan. Yinxing, was weakening and was expected to dissipate soon.
The last time Taiwan’s weather agencies reported four systems at the same time was in October 1994.
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