Typhoon Megi is likely to make landfall on Taiwan on Tuesday afternoon and is expected to worsen weather conditions in Vietnam.
At 1:00 am on Monday, Megi was located about 780 kilometers southeast of Taiwan, with maximum sustained winds at 150-165 kph, according to the National Center for Hydro-Meteorological Forecasting (NCMHF).
The tempest is forecast to close in on Taiwan at 20-25 kph, and it is slated to be 280 kilometers southeast of the island at 1:00 am on Tuesday, with intensified maximum sustained winds as high as 185 kph.
Rough seas and high winds registering at 9 on the Beaufort scale are anticipated in the northeastern waters of the East Vietnam Sea, the NCHMF said.
Megi is also anticipated to strengthen the southwesterly winds in about five days, Le Thi Xuan Lan, a Ho Chi Minh City-based meteorologist, forecast.
Due to the weather disturbance, towns and cities in the southern region are expected to be soaked in evening torrential rains with strong squalls from midweek onwards, Lan said.
The storm is likely to intensify the northern cold air mass heading southwards, which will cause heavy rain in the central region in the evening and overnight by the weekend, the weather pundit added.