The Philippine weather agency PAGASA issued the first warning bulletin on November 9 about tropical depression Nika, the latest system forecast to strengthen into a storm right after typhoon Marce (international name: typhoon Yinxing).
The update on the new tropical depression near the East Sea said that the low pressure area east of southeastern Luzon has strengthened into tropical depression Nika.
The center of Tropical Depression Nika is located 1,145 kilometers southeast of Luzon. The depression near the Philippines is moving west at 30 kilometers per hour. The depression's maximum sustained winds are 55 kilometers per hour near the center and gusts of up to 70 kilometers per hour.
PAGASA forecasters said Nika is expected to move west-northwest throughout the forecast period.
The latest tropical depression is strengthening and could become Typhoon Nika by the morning of November 11 before making its first landfall. Typhoon Nika is expected to make landfall in Isabela or Aurora, Philippines as soon as it becomes a typhoon.
Typhoon Nika is forecast to weaken as it passes over the Philippines due to interactions with the terrain of mainland Luzon, but Nika will remain a strong tropical storm.
Nika will be the 14th typhoon in the Philippines in the 2024 typhoon season. It is also the second tropical storm in the Philippines in November, after Typhoon Yinxing.
After sweeping across the Philippines, Typhoon Nika will enter the East Sea, becoming the eighth typhoon in the East Sea this year.
As of the morning of November 12, Typhoon Nika is forecast to be moving in the East Sea, 170km west of Bacnotan, La Union, Philippines. By November 13, the latest storm is expected to leave the Philippine PAR forecast area.
Tropical Depression Nika is one of two systems that are expected to strengthen into a storm near the Philippines that PAGASA is monitoring. The other system is Depression 11c. This depression is forecast to have a moderate chance of strengthening into a tropical depression within the next 24 hours.
