Hong Kong’s weather forecaster is considering issuing the Standby Signal No 1, with tropical cyclone Noul expected to enter within 800 kilometers of the city later on Friday and intensify gradually.
Noul was centered about 500 km north-northeast of Manila at 10 am, forecast to move west-northwest at about 26 km per hour towards the vicinity of Luzon Strait, the Hong Kong Observatory said in a weather bulletin.
It will enter the northeastern part of the South China Sea on Friday and Saturday, edging closer to the coast of eastern Guangdong over the weekend, the observatory said.
“According to the present assessment, it has a higher chance to make landfall over the vicinity of Huizhou to Shantou, but its distance from Hong Kong remains uncertain,” reads the HKO bulletin.
The forecaster warned that it will be very hot at first on Saturday, but it is expected to be windy with heavy squally showers and thunderstorms over the coast of Guangdong later on Saturday to Sunday.
The observatory said it will assess the need for higher tropical cyclone warning signals later on Saturday depending on the change in intensity of Noul, the distance of its strong winds from Hong Kong and the local wind conditions.