The latest storm information from the Philippine weather agency PAGASA said that super typhoon Usagi (local name is Ofel) is maintaining its intensity as it threatens the Cagayan Valley region of the Philippines.
The center of super typhoon Usagi is 135km east of Echague, Isabela. The super typhoon is moving west-northwest at a speed of 15 km/h and has maximum sustained winds of 185 km/h near the center and gusts of up to 230 km/h.
Philippine typhoon forecasters say super typhoon Usagi will move northwest over the Philippine Sea before making landfall along the east coast of Cagayan this afternoon. The storm will then move into the Babuyan Strait tonight when it makes a second landfall or approaches the Babuyan Islands.
Typhoon Usagi is forecast to turn north-northwest to north-northeast in the western sea of Batanes on November 15 and continue moving northeast from November 16 in the waters east of Taiwan (China) to the Ryukyu Islands for the remaining forecast period.
Super typhoon Usagi tends to weaken due to increasing interaction with the mainland of Luzon, the Philippines and Taiwan (China) as well as due to increasingly unfavorable environments for the typhoon to strengthen in the Luzon Strait and the sea east of Taiwan (China). However, Philippine typhoon forecasters do not rule out the possibility of Usagi making landfall as a super typhoon or near a super typhoon.
According to the latest storm information from the US Navy's Joint Typhoon Warning Center (JTWC), super typhoon Usagi is moving northwest at a speed of 22 km/h over the past 6 hours. JTWC forecasters said that super typhoon Usagi will continue to move northwest.
The unfavorable environment will lead to the weakening of super typhoon Usagi due to contact with the mainland in Luzon and Taiwan (China). Along with that, cooler sea surface temperatures and reduced ocean heat content, increased wind shear also weaken the storm. It is forecasted that in the next 5 days, Usagi's intensity will decrease to 85 km/h.
