HK bracing for typhoon as Koinu is building up

Hong Kong might be threatened by a typhoon later this week as typhoon Koinu is expected to be closest to the city on Saturday, approaching around 300 kilometers east of the SAR.

Koinu intensified into a severe typhoon yesterday afternoon traveling westward from the Pacific as it moved toward Taiwan, meteorologists on the island said yesterday.

The storm was expanding in size and was expected to make landfall Thursday morning on the island.

Taiwan's Central Weather Bureau predicts the center of the storm will hit the island's southern cities while bringing heavy rains to the east coast including Taitung City.

At 8pm yesterday, Koinu was centered about 820km northeast of Manila. It is forecast to move northwest at about 12km per hour towards the vicinity of Luzon Strait to the southern part of Taiwan and will continue to intensify, according to the Hong Kong Observatory.

Koinu is expected to enter the 800km range of Hong Kong on Wednesday or Thursday.

It will further intensify into a super typhoon when moving towards Taiwan but will weaken to a severe typhoon when it edges close to the island.

Koinu will further weaken into a typhoon when it enters within 400km of Hong Kong on Friday.

"The weather will be windy with showers over the coast of Guangdong in the latter part of this week," the observatory said.

"Besides, the northeast monsoon is expected to reach southern China in the latter part of this week. Under the influence of the northeast monsoon, there are uncertainties in Koinu's subsequent movement and intensity. It may move along the coastal waters of Guangdong and weaken," it added.

It will remain sunny and hot in the next few days in Hong Kong, with rain forecast on Friday and over the weekend.

"An anticyclone aloft will bring mainly fine weather to southern China in the next couple of days, but showers and thunderstorms triggered by high temperatures will affect the region," the observatory said.

The temperature will range from 28 to 33 degrees Celsius today and climb to 35 degrees tomorrow, which would break the record for the hottest day in October. Temperatures will fall to 27 to 32 degrees Thursday with cloudy weather and a few showers.

In the Philippines, which will avoid a direct hit, the weather bureau issued storm warnings in at least six northern provinces and warned of possible flooding and landslides, especially in mountainous regions. The typhoon will enhance seasonal monsoon rains elsewhere in the country in the next three days, forecasters said.

On Monday, Koinu was blowing 485km east of Basco town in the northernmost Philippine province of Batanes, in the Luzon Strait that separates the Philippines and Taiwan, according to Manila's weather bureau.