Typhoon Khanun forms, Taiwan sea warning possible

颱風卡努形成 台灣可能會發布海上警報

Khanun to begin to bring rain to Taiwan on Tuesday night, more likely through Thursday


TAIPEI (Taiwan News) — There is a 40% chance a sea warning will be issued for Typhoon Khanun (卡努) later in the week, while it is likely to start raining in northern Taiwan by Tuesday night (Aug. 1), said meteorologist Daniel Wu (吳德榮).

As of 2 a.m. on Monday (July 31), Khanun was located 1,170 km east-southeast of Taipei and was heading in a north-northwesterly direction toward the Ryukyu Islands. It has a radius of 250 km and was packing maximum sustained winds of 144 kph with gusts of up to 180 kph, according to the Central Weather Bureau (CWB).

Wu forecast Khanun, the sixth tropical storm of the year, will pass near the Ryukyu Islands on Tuesday, turn west-northwest, and then head toward the East China Sea. He said later in the week it would begin to slow down and shift to the northeast.

Wu noted an area 100 km off the northern coast of Taiwan is within the cone of uncertainty. He said that although the probability of the storm's outer rim affecting Taiwan is low, there is a possibility of large waves on the north coast of Keelung, eastern Taiwan, the Hengchun Peninsula, and Matsu.

According to Wu, European modeling shows Taiwan will generally see partly cloudy to sunny skies on Monday (July 31). However, Wu said that there is a lot of moisture in the air and the atmosphere is unstable with occasional showers possible in some areas during the day and thunderstorms likely in the afternoon.

On Tuesday, Wu predicted skies would be partly cloudy to sunny, but there may still be a chance of brief showers in some areas. From Wednesday to Thursday (Aug. 2-3), Wu said there will be localized showers and heavy rain in windward areas of northern, central, and southern Taiwan.