Yellow Alert Issued as Shanghai Braces for Typhoon Rumbia

This article originally appeared on our sister website, Urban Family Shanghai.

By Yuzhou Hu

Forget Typhoon Leepi; it turns out Typhoon Rumbia is the real threat we should be worrying about this week, as the local authority triggers the yellow alert (the third in the four-tier alarm system). The typhoon is expected to make landfall this evening, reports The Paper.

At 5am this morning, the 18th typhoon for this year was spotted on waters 250 kilometers (155.3 miles) east of Zhoushan (a city of Zhejiang Province to the south of Shanghai), moving at a speed of 10 kilometers (6.2 miles) per hour.

According to the National Meteorological Center (see image below) forecast, the typhoon is likely to land somewhere between Shanghai and Zhoushan during the night.

Image via National Meteorological Center

Sharing a name with a curse word in Shanghainese, Typhoon Rumbia is said to bring stronger wind and heavier rainfall than its predecessors (Typhoons Ampil, Jongdari and Yagi). There is a forecast of 50 to 80 millimeters of precipitation for the city today and tomorrow. In some areas, this could increase to 200 millimeters.

Shanghai Meteorological Bureau first activated the blue alert (the lowest in the four-tier alarm system) at 8pm yesterday. As the typhoon becomes stronger, the warning has been upgraded to a yellow at 12pm today, reports Kankanews.

If it's any comfort, the typhoon will put a pin in the scorching weather we have been experiencing. The highest temperature expected during the upcoming days is 30 degrees Celsius (80 degrees Fahrenheit) according to the Weather Channel. Moreover, it seems the typhoon will have passed before Saturday, leaving the weekend spared from the storm. Unfortunately, it looks like Chinese Valentine's Day (AKA Qixi), which falls this Friday, August 17, won't escape the thunderstorms.

Image via The Weather Channel

[Cover image via Pixabay]

This article was originally published by our sister magazine Urban Family Shanghai. For more articles like this, visit the Urban Family website, or follow the Urban Family WeChat account (ID: urbanfamilyshanghai).