Tropical Storm Doksuri strengthened into a typhoon last night and could make landfall early on Thursday, cutting across Taiwan in a northwesterly direction, the Central Weather Bureau said yesterday.
As of 2pm yesterday, Doksuri was 1,130km southeast of Oluanpi (鵝鑾鼻), Taiwan’s southernmost point, and was moving west at 12kph, the bureau said.
The storm is expected to continue strengthening and begin shifting west-northwest, the bureau said, adding that its impact on Taiwan would largely depend on the angle at which the storm turns northward.
Citing bureau data, independent meteorologist Daniel Wu (吳德榮), an adjunct associate professor of atmospheric sciences at National Central University, said the storm has about an 80 percent chance of making landfall.
Its exact path is still uncertain, with international forecasting models differing on whether it would move toward the south or northeast of Taiwan.
Today and tomorrow the storm could cause rain showers in the south and east of the country, while sunny and hot conditions are likely to prevail in the west, Wu said.
The storm’s impact on Taiwan would be strongest from Wednesday through the first half of the day on Friday, at which time it would already have crossed into China’s Fujian Province, Wu said. The Maritime and Port Bureau announced that all ferry traffic to and from Orchid Island (Lanyu, 蘭嶼) and Green Island (綠島) would be suspended from tomorrow through Thursday.
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