Tropical Storm Ma-po forms, to come closest to Taiwan Aug. 23-24

熱帶氣旋馬鞍，於8 月 23 日至 24 日最靠近台灣

Showers, thunderstorms likely in southern, eastern Taiwan from Aug. 23-24


TAIPEI (Taiwan News) — At noon today (Aug. 22), the Japan Meteorological Agency (JMA) announced that Tropical Storm Ma-po (馬鞍), this year's ninth, and Tropical Storm Tokage (蝎虎), this year's 10th, have formed, with the former predicted to come closest to Taiwan between Tuesday and Wednesday (Aug. 23-24), when it will likely bring showers and thunderstorms to southern and eastern Taiwan.

As of 12:05 p.m. today, Tropical Storm Ma-po's center was located at 16.3 degrees north latitude and 124.1 degrees east longitude and was packing maximum sustained winds of 64.8 kilometers per hour (kph) and gusts of up to 90 kph. It was heading west at a speed of about 15 kph.

The JMA forecasts that Ma-po will pass through the northern part of Luzon Island in the Philippines before striking Guangdong, China. It also pointed out that Tropical Storm Tokage also formed today.

As of noon, the center of Tokage was located at 24.5 degrees north latitude and 151.6 degrees east longitude. It was packing maximum sustained winds of 64.8 kph with gusts of up to 90 kph. At that time, it was headed north at a speed of about 20 kph.

At 8 a.m. this morning, the Central Weather Bureau (CWB) was still listing Ma-po as a tropical depression, which was located at 16.4 degrees north latitude and 124.5 degrees east longitude. The CWB in its morning report stated that it was headed northwest at a speed of 10 kph.

CWB forecaster Lin Ting-i (林定宜) said that given that Tokage is 3,000 kilometers away from Taiwan and moving north toward Japan, it is not expected to impact Taiwan. As for Ma-po, Lin said that it is close to the northern end of Luzon Island and is expected to come closest to Taiwan at some point between Tuesday and Wednesday.

During that period, localized brief showers and thunderstorms will be likely in southern and eastern Taiwan. Other parts of Taiwan will see cloudy to clear skies, with some thunderstorms in the afternoon.

Lin said that Ma-po is then projected to impact Guangdong. On Wednesday, Lin predicted that winds will turn to the southwest and there will still be a great deal of moisture in the air.

For that day, Lin forecast brief showers or thunderstorms all day in central and southern parts of the country. In other areas, skies will be cloudy with thunderstorms in the afternoon likely.

According to Lin, there is little chance of the CWB issuing a typhoon warning at the present, but it will depend on whether there are changes in Ma-po's path and storm radius. He said that the CWB will continue to monitor the situation and provide regular updates on the storm's movements.