BEN WESTCOTT BEN.WESTCOTT@SCMP.COM
PUBLISHED : Wednesday, 05 August, 2015, 1:10pm
UPDATED : Wednesday, 05 August, 2015, 2:11pm
Agencies disagreed on how to label the storm, but they all concurred it was huge. Photo: NOAA / Reuters
Tropical cyclone Soudelor has been downgraded from a category five typhoon according to the latest forecast by the Joint Typhoon Warning Centre, but Hong Kong Observatory hasn’t done the same, saying it still warrants a higher rating.
While maximum wind speeds remained at a roaring 105 knots, or 194 km/h, as of midday Wednesday, the typhoon, described as the biggest storm of the year, had apparently calmed somewhat from the peak of its intensity seen on Tuesday.
Hong Kong Observatory forecaster Yeung Wai-Lung said they were keeping the storm ranked as a super typhoon due to the current maximum wind analysis they had conducted.
“Maybe we have different judgments about the satellite imagery,” Yeung said. “It’s not a very objective analysis – we may have our own judgment in different parts.”
Yeung said Soudelor’s wind speeds had dropped since they reached about 231 km/h on Tuesday morning, but it was still a serious typhoon and expected to make landfall on mainland China by Saturday or Sunday.
“According to our latest [data] it is forecast to actually move across Taiwan and then hit the south-eastern coast of China around Saturday or Sunday,” he said.
Yeung said the storm was still forecast to avoid Hong Kong and wouldn’t affect the city, apart from bringing high temperatures to the area over the coming days.
“We’re going to have very hot weather in the next couple of days with hazy conditions, and there will be isolated thunderstorms later during the day,” he said.
http://m.scmp.com/news/hong-kong/health-environment/article/1846702/typhoon-warning-centre-downgrades-soudelor-hong
