A tropical depression developing east of the Philippines is expected to bring torrential rain to eastern Taiwan and the Hengchun Peninsula starting tomorrow, the Central Weather Administration (CWA) said yesterday.
Forecasters yesterday said that the system could strengthen into Tropical Storm Wipha as early as today, with its outer bands of rain likely to affect Taiwan’s east coast.
It would be the sixth storm of the western Pacific’s typhoon season.
Photo courtesy of the Central Weather Administration
As of 8am yesterday, the storm’s center was over waters east of Luzon island, moving west at 34kph, and it was packing sustained winds of 54kph and gusts of up to 83kph, the CWA said.
Forecasters said the storm is expected to pass over the northern part of Luzon and move toward the South China Sea, possibly heading for Guangdong Province or Hainan Province in China.
At present, the system is still too far from Taiwan to issue a sea warning, the CWA said, but added that if the storm system’s path shifts slightly north or the storm grows in size, a sea warning could still be issued.
The system is expected to come closest to Taiwan on Saturday, passing just south of the nation, before gradually moving away on Sunday, the CWA said.
Independent meteorologist Wu Der-rong (吳德榮) yesterday said that the tropical system has “a high potential for heavy rainfall in eastern Taiwan and southern Pingtung” as it passes through the Bashi Channel over the weekend.
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