A sea alert for Typhoon In-Fa could be issued this morning as it moves toward Taiwan, although it remains uncertain if its center would make landfall, the Central Weather Bureau said yesterday.
Meanwhile, Tropical Storm Cempaka was upgraded to a typhoon yesterday morning as it moved north toward China’s Guangdong Province, the bureau said.
As of 2pm yesterday, In-Fa was classified as a tropical storm and was centered 800km east of Taipei, moving west at 13kph with maximum sustained winds of 101kph.
Photo: Lu Hsien-hsiu, Taipei Times
It was upgraded to a moderate typhoon at 8pm yesterday evening.
In other news, the bureau yesterday announced that it had completed the installation and renovation of 576 automatic weather observation stations nationwide.
The 14-year project had cost NT$290 million (US$10.33 million), the bureau said.
Photo courtesy of the Central Weather Bureau via CNA
The automatic system, including 437 weather observation stations and 139 rain observation stations, would enable the agency to collect meteorological data that could be used to prevent damage and casualties caused by flooding, mudflows and landslides, it said.
The bureau has since 1985 budgeted funding annually to build the 24-hour automatic weather observation system, it said.
By 2005, 257 rain observation stations and 119 weather observation stations had been installed.
Between 2006 and last year, the bureau gradually retired old stations and installed new ones, it said.
With advances in weather forecast technology, the bureau also upgraded some of the rain observation stations so that they are able to monitor changes in temperature, humidity, air pressure and wind speed.
That helped raise the density of observation stations nationwide, it added.
The system not only enhances the efficiency of the weather forecast service, it also enables the agency to more accurately forecast occurrences of topography-induced weather, such as high temperatures in the East Rift Valley between Hualien and Taitung, strong precipitation in the mountainous areas of New Taipei City, and Yilan and Pingtung counties, as well as katabatic wind in the Hengchun Peninsula.
Weather data collected by the system would allow the agency to issue timely alerts for typhoons and other extreme weather events, and it can also be used in scientific research, the bureau said.
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