Meeting of typhoons: No strong attraction seen between ‘Igme’ and ‘Julian’

Source: Pagasa website | August 22, 2012

MANILA, Philippines—There’s a good chance that exiting Typhoon Igme (international name: Tembin) will meet the approaching Typhoon Julian (Bolaven) in the next 24 hours, but the state weather bureau does not see a strong attraction between them.

At midday Wednesday, Igme continued to approach Taiwan, moving in a west-northwest direction at 7 kph, and still packing maximum sustained winds of 140 kph and with gusts reaching 170 kph, the Philippine Atmospheric, Geophysical and Astronomical Services (Pagasa) said.

“It will probably make landfall in Taiwan by (Thursday) morning,” said Pagasa forecaster Nikos Peñaranda.

But Igme may still be inside the country’s area of responsibility when another weather disturbance, Julian, makes its way toward the Philippine area of responsibility, he said in a radio interview.

“Yes, while Igme is exiting on Thursday afternoon, Bolaven may enter PAR [Philippine area of responsibility] around tomorrow afternoon or Friday morning. There’s a possibility they will meet,” Peñaranda said.

Even so, “there’s only a minimal chance of strong interaction between them, or the Fujiwara effect,” he said, referring to the phenomenon defined by the US National Weather Service as the tendency of two nearby storms to move around a common pivot.

Instead, what may happen, according to Peñaranda, is that Igme’s exit will be slower than earlier expected.

As of early Wednesday, Julian was observed 1,600 kilometers east of extreme northern Luzon. It is not expected to directly hit and it may only enter a corner of the Philippine territory “far from the Luzon landmass,” the forecaster said.

Public Storm Signal No. 1 remained hoisted over the Batanes group of islands due to Igme, indicating gusts of wind not exceeding 60 kph as well as rains, Pagasa said.

Pagasa warned that some areas on the eastern seaboard of Luzon will experience strong waves, and advised fishing boats and other small seacraft against venturing out to sea.

Igme is still seen to bring moderate to heavy rainfall, of 10–20 mm per hour, in areas within 250 kilometers of its center.

Weather in Metro Manila and other western sections of Luzon will only see sporadic rains, but the weekend may bring in heavier rainfall, especially on Sunday, because of the southwest monsoon being pulled by Julian, Peñaranda said.

But Pagasa does not expect strong, continuous rainfall as in the previous weeks.