Tropical cyclone Saola is forecast to enter within 800 kilometres of Hong Kong on Wednesday, the Hong Kong Observatory has said.
“Depending on the size of circulation of Saola and its distance from the Pearl River Estuary, the Observatory will assess the need for issuing Tropical Cyclone Warning Signals in the middle to latter parts of the week,” the Observatory said on Monday.
According to the Observatory’s cyclone track information at 8 am on Tuesday morning, Saola, currently classified as a severe typhoon, was expected to move across the Luzon Strait and intensify into a super typhoon before weakening again.
The current track showed Typhoon Saola, a storm with maximum sustained winds of 140 kilometres per hour at its centre, passing close to Hong Kong on Saturday morning.
However, because a second storm system, Tropical Cyclone Haikui, was located to the east of Saola, the Observatory said on Tuesday that “there are large uncertainties in the subsequent movement of Saola.”
Hong Kong has hoisted the T8 storm signal, which brings the city to a standstill, once this year, when Typhoon Talim came within 300 kilometres south-southwest of Hong Kong in July.
The lowest storm signal – T1 – was raised for Super Typhoon Doksuri later that month. Doksuri went on to cause major flooding in mainland China and the deaths of at least 80 people.
Sunny intervals, showers, and thunderstorms were forecast for Tuesday, following by very hot, sunny periods interspersed with isolated showers over the next two days.
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