Taiwan and Chinese mainland once again prepare for the wrath of a super typhoon, a storm which is expected to hit the southern tip of Taiwan sometime tomorrow morning before barreling towards the mainland.
Dubbed Super Typhoon Meranti, the super storm is predicted to make landfall in Taiwan with winds of around 250 kilometers per hour, making it the strongest typhoon to hit the island nation since Super Typhoon Bilis in 2000, according to CNN.
Meranti, the 14th typhoon of the year, is expected to weaken before touching down on the mainland Thursday (September 15), with gusts expected to drop to 185 kilometers per hour – making it comparable to a serious Category 3 hurricane in the Atlantic.
To put Meranti’s strength in perspective, 1991’s infamous ‘Perfect Storm’ in the Atlantic, which killed 13 people, including the crew of the Andrea Gail, the protagonists of the non-fiction novel The Perfect Storm, reached a maximum wind speed of 120 kilometers per hour.
The Weather Channel’s projected course for the storm.
The typhoon’s arrival is forecast to occur somewhere between southern Fujian and eastern Guangdong, roughly 400 kilometers from Hong Kong.
Unfortunately for those planning outdoor activities or travel for their Mid-Autumn holiday, which starts Thursday, Meranti's 560-kilometer wind field may bring wet and windy conditions to central Guangdong through the weekend.
The Shenzhen Meteorological Observatory has stated Shenzhen can expect heavy rains on Thursday, but after the false alarm from our last typhoon experience, Typhoon Nida, we would recommend waiting a bit before canceling any major plans.
Super typhoons looks much less threatening in psychedelic technicolor.
The Hong Kong Observatory has said they are hopeful that the stormy weather will disperse by Saturday morning for the penumbral lunar eclipse – an infrequent astronomical occurrence that transpires when the moon enters the earth’s shadow. The cosmological show is expected to last four hours and three minutes, starting at 12.53am on Saturday.
While those in Hong Kong may be lucky enough to catch the planet-moon-sun dance, it is unclear whether those of us in Guangzhou and Shenzhen will be quite as fortunate.
RELATED: Typhoon Nida Empties Guangzhou Supermarkets
[Images via The Weather Channel]
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