Macau’s observatory has announced that it will hoist Typhoon Signal No.8 (T8) between 2 a.m. and 4 a.m. tonight.
According to a statement released by the Meteorological and Geophysical Bureau (SMG) shortly after 11 p.m., Tropical Cyclone “Matmo” has intensified into a typhoon, and is moving rapidly across the central and northern part of the South China Sea, generally heading toward the Chinese mainland’s Leizhou Peninsula to Hainan Province. The winds in Macau are continuously strengthening, with intermittent heavy showers, the bureau said.
The bureau also said that Matmo was expected to be closest to Macau from later tonight to tomorrow morning, passing about 300 km south of Macau, possibly strengthening into a severe typhoon.
T8 indicates that a tropical cyclone continues to approach Macao. Winds with a sustained speed of 63 to 117 km/h are expected or blowing and gusts may exceed 180 km/h in Macau, according to Macau’s five-level storm warning system (T1, T3, T8, T9, T10).
At 11 pm, according to the observatory, Typhoon Matmo was estimated to be about 340 km south of Macau (near 19.1°N, 113.8°E). It was forecast to move northwest at around 25 km/h towards the vicinity areas between the western coast of Guangdong Province and Hainan Province.
