The latest storm news on the morning of July 9 from the Philippine Atmospheric, Geophysical and Astronomical Services Administration (PAGASA) said that super typhoon Ba Vi (Bavi) - locally named Inday has weakened slightly as it continues to move in the sea area east of the Philippines.
The bulletin clearly stated that super typhoon Ba Vi has reduced its intensity to a strong typhoon and continues to move in a west-northwest direction.
At 4:00 AM on July 9, the storm center was about 925km northeast of Luzon (Philippines). The storm has the strongest sustained wind of 175 km/h, gusts up to 215 km/h, central pressure of 940 hPa and is moving in a west-northwest direction at a speed of about 20 km/h. The area of strong winds from storm level and above extends to about 870km from the storm center.
PAGASA noted that heavy rain and strong winds are still forecast to occur in areas outside the expected storm landfall point as well as outside the highly reliable forecast area.
The latest typhoon forecast from Philippine forecasters said that Typhoon Ba Vi will continue to move northwest over the Philippine waters and approach the northernmost point of Luzon Island from the evening of July 10 to the morning of July 11.
After that, the storm will head towards the southern islands of Japan and may make landfall or go very close to the northern coast of Taiwan (China).
Typhoon Ba Vi is forecast to leave the Philippine Area of Responsibility (PAR) on July 11 before making landfall on the east coast of mainland China on July 12.
PAGASA assesses that Typhoon Ba Vi will continue to weaken gradually, but will still maintain strong typhoon intensity until it leaves the Philippine forecast area. When it goes deep into mainland China, the typhoon will be downgraded to a strong tropical storm.
In addition, when moving in the sea area east of Taiwan (China), Typhoon Ba Vi is likely to weaken faster due to increasingly unfavorable atmospheric conditions.
US storm forecasters noted that Super Typhoon Ba Vi is in the group of 45 storms with the highest accumulated energy index ACE ever recorded in the northwest Pacific region since 1950, with a value of 43.
Ba Vi also became one of the super typhoons that maintained its strongest intensity for the longest time ever recorded, with a super typhoon maintenance time of up to 102 hours, the longest since Super Typhoon Yutu in 2018.
Meanwhile, the Taiwan (China) Meteorological Administration CWA warned that Typhoon Ba Vi could cause strong gusts of wind, storm surge, and very heavy rain when approaching the island from the evening of July 10 to the morning of July 11.
