HONG KONG: Tropical Storm Wutip is continuing to track toward Hainan Island in southern China, and is expected to make landfall on Friday short of the typhoon-strength intensity previously forecast.
Wutip is currently about 155km southeast of Sanya city on Hainan, according to an advisory from Chinese weather authorities.
The system is expected to strengthen into a severe tropical storm in the early hours of Friday, fueled by the very warm waters of the South China Sea.
After crossing the coast, Wutip is forecast to weaken as it tracks over Hainan, but will re-intensify when it moves into the Gulf of Tonkin due to the warm waters, according to the US Navy’s Joint Typhoon Warning Center.
The system is then expected to make its second landfall as a severe tropical storm along the coast of Guangdong and Guangxi provinces on Saturday, quickly weakening over land, according to the Chinese state weather bureau. Hong Kong has maintained its initial cyclone warning, known as Standby Signal, No. 1. - Bloomberg
