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