Tropical Storm Songda formed at 2am yesterday, but whether it would become the second tropical storm to affect Taiwan this year remains to be seen, the Central Weather Bureau (CWB) said yesterday.
Songda, meaning “red tributary” in Vietnamese, was preceded earlier this month by Tropical Storm Aere, which brought rain to the nation’s east coast and Hengchun Peninsula.
At press time, the center of Songda was 940km off the southwest coast of Guam. It was moving northwesterly at 13kph. The bureau forecast that the storm would move into the sea areas off the east coast of the Philippines on Wednesday.
Bureau forecaster Lin Ding-yi (林定宜) said that while the storm was still very far from Taiwan, people should not underestimate its force.
“It [the storm] formed at sea,” he said. “The water vapor and heat it absorbs at sea will cause it to become stronger. The crucial time of observation would be on Wednesday or Thursday, when we can better determine if it will affect Taiwan.”
Nonetheless, Lin said that chances of rain were high nationwide tomorrow and Wednesday as another frontal system is forecast to arrive today.
Aside from showers, chances of heavy rain are also high in some regions while the frontal system lingers over the nation.
The bureau’s forecasts showed that temperature would be from 21℃ to 30℃ in the north, 23℃ to 31℃ in the central part of the country, 24℃ to 31℃ in the south and 22℃ to 30℃ in the east.
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