According to the latest storm news from the US Joint Typhoon Warning Center (JTWC), Hurricane Dolphin is currently having winds of 195 km/h, equivalent to a Category 3 hurricane on the Saffir-Simpson scale.
Hurricane Dolphin has accumulated 45 ACE units (accumulated storm energy), in the group of 35 storms with the highest ACE index ever recorded in the northwest Pacific region to date.
In recent hours, the intensity of Hurricane Dolphin has remained almost unchanged, but satellite images show that the western part of the storm's circulation has somewhat weakened due to dry air intrusion.
However, environmental conditions are still very favorable, helping Hurricane Dolphin continue to maintain a large and stable structure, including very low vertical wind shear and strong high-level airflows in many directions.
Typhoon Dolphin is forecast to continue moving mainly westward until August 8, then gradually shift to northwest.
US typhoon forecasters believe that Typhoon Dolphin's eye is likely to pass directly through the North Daito Islands in the afternoon or evening of August 6 before heading towards the Okinawa Islands on August 7. During that time, the typhoon still maintained its very large scale.
It is forecasted that Typhoon Dolphin along with Typhoon Kujira in the East Sea (name Maymay in the Philippines), low pressure area 96W and another low pressure area in southern China are contributing to strengthening the southwest monsoon, causing widespread heavy rain in mainland Southeast Asia, southern China, western Philippines, Sumatra Island (Indonesia), north of Borneo Island, Palau, Micronesia, Mariana Islands and Marshall Islands.
From the evening of August 4, the Japan Meteorological Agency (JMA) upgraded the tropical depression in the East Sea to a tropical storm and named it Kujira internationally. Kujira is the 14th storm in the northwest Pacific in 2026, and also the first storm to be named in August. Kujira is a storm name proposed by Japan, meaning "whale" in Japanese, and also the name of the constellation Cetus.
As of the end of August 4, the northwest Pacific region recorded the most named storms since the beginning of the year to date since 1971.
According to the latest storm news from the Philippine Atmospheric, Geophysical and Astronomical Services Administration (PAGASA) on the morning of August 5, storm Kujira is about 170km west-northwest of Bacnotan, La Union province, Philippines. The storm has maximum sustained winds of 65 km/h, gusts of 80 km/h. The latest storm in the East Sea is moving slowly in a southeast direction. Kujira's strong wind area extends within 180km from the center of the storm.
PAGASA forecasts that Kujira will change direction to the east and may make landfall in Ilocos Sur or La Union provinces in the afternoon or evening of August 5. After that, the storm will move through the Northern and Central Luzon regions until the end of August 6.
Typhoon Kujira is forecast to maintain tropical storm status when approaching the mainland Philippines. After making landfall, the latest storm in the East Sea in the 2026 storm season will quickly weaken into a tropical depression on the morning of August 6, then continue to decrease to a low pressure in the afternoon or evening of the same day.
