Lan setting its sights for southwestern Japan

Good morning from the Western Pacific Weather team.

Khanun is no more, but Lan is still generating some buzz as it sits east of the Philippines. There was a lot of chatter about a possible low pressure area developing west of the Philippines, but at this point, it does not look like that will actually occur as Lan seems to be taking much of that energy away and moving toward the north.

Tropical Storm Lan is expected to intensify into a strong typhoon going within the next 24 hours, but folks in the Philippines are likely to not see the impacts of this system going forward in its current trajectory. Those in southwestern Japan, particularly in Okinawa, should keep an eye on this system as Lan will likely at least brush by the islands if not moving over them. The timing of this system to arrive will be close to the end of the week.

Otherwise, it looks like for the moment, there aren’t any other areas of concern in the Western Pacific in relation to tropical development. There is an area of interest in the Bay of Bengal that may lead to the development of a tropical low, but at this point, it has not fully generated into a system.

Jonathan Oh
Meteorologist, Western Pacific Weather