4th Pacific storm forms, Fujiwhara effect unlikely: CWA

Taipei, July 21 (CNA) The fourth storm of this year's Pacific typhoon season has formed in the South China Sea, but is not expected to impact Taiwan, the Central Weather Administration (CWA) said Sunday.

According to the CWA, Tropical Storm Prapiroon is currently located off the Spratly Islands, carrying maximum sustained winds near the center of 64.8 kilometers per hour and gusts of 90 km per hour (kph).

The storm was moving at 14 kph in a north-northwesterly direction, the CWA data released at 2 p.m. indicated.

It is projected to make landfall in China's Hainan Islands on Monday, causing no direct threat to Taiwan, the CWA said.

Prapiroon and another tropical storm, Gaemi, are not likely to form a Fujiwara effect or binary interaction -- a phenomenon that occurs when two nearby storm vortices move around each other, potentially merging into one -- as they are 1,500 km apart, CWA forecaster Chang Chun-yao (張竣堯) told CNA.

Gaemi, located some 780 km southeast of Taiwan's southernmost tip Eluanbi, is moving at 4 kph in a west-northwesterly direction, CWA data showed.

Chang said the storm was projected to pass Japan's Miyako Island, but it was too early to forecast Gaemi's future path now.

A clearer picture of its development will come on Monday or Tuesday, Chang said.

Regardless of whether Gaemi continues moving in a northwesterly direction or veers off west or north, it is set to bring downpours to Taiwan, Chang said, advising people to take precautions.

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