Tropical Cyclone Yagi likely to move closer to Hong Kong later this ...

Tropical Cyclone Yagi is developing off the coast of the Philippines and is likely to edge closer to Hong Kong this week, the city’s weather forecaster has said.

The Hong Kong Observatory said on Sunday that an area of low pressure would strengthen and move towards Luzon in the next couple of days before entering the northern part of the South China Sea.

The forecaster expects Yagi to drift to the coast of Southern China later this week.

Yagi means goat in Japanese, and was previously used to name a typhoon in 2018.

“Under its influence, the weather will become unsettled gradually over later parts of this week,” it said.

According to the Observatory’s forecast, the tropical depression will become a tropical storm on Monday, before further strengthening to a severe tropical storm on Tuesday when it will come within 800km of Hong Kong.

Yagi is expected to become a typhoon on Thursday and be within 400km of the city, with maximum wind speeds of 120km/h at its centre.

By Friday it will be within 300km and boast wind speeds of up to 145km/h at its centre.

The forecaster added there was a chance the tropical depression would move towards Taiwan and the East China Sea after crossing Luzon.

More rain is forecast in Hong Kong from Thursday through to Monday the following week, but temperatures will remain hot at about 32 degrees Celsius (89.6 Fahrenheit).

The Observatory warned last week that three to five more typhoons could enter within 500km (310 miles) of Hong Kong this year.

Only five typhoons formed in the northwest Pacific and South China Sea during the first seven months of the year, about half the long-term average of roughly 10.