WeatherFanatics: Philippines Put on Alert for Tropical Storm Peipah

Saturday, April 5, 2014

Philippines Put on Alert for Tropical Storm Peipah

By Kristina Pydynowski, Senior Meteorologist

April 5,2014; 8:48PM,EDT

Residents of the Philippines are being put on alert for future flood threats from Tropical Storm Peipah.
AccuWeather.com Meteorologist Eric Wanenchak is especially concerned for impacts across the southern Philippines given how unusually far south in the western Pacific Ocean Peipah developed.
"[The southern Philippines] do not get hit by tropical systems very often," stated Wanenchak. The majority of tropical storms and typhoons form too far to the north to take aim at these islands.
Wanenchak expects the track of Peipah, through the point of landfall, to mirror Super Typhoon Bopha from late 2012 closely. Bopha slammed into the island of Mindanao in the southern Philippines.
The good news is that a repeat of Bopha's super typhoon status is not expected. However, the warm waters of the Pacific and the absence of disruptive wind shear will allow for some additional strengthening over the next several days.

The storm will likely further intensity into a stronger tropical storm. It is not out of the question that Peipah reaches minimal typhoon strength, becoming the first typhoon of the year to threaten the Philippines.
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Peipah is likely to reach the Philippine island of Mindanao by midweek with flooding rain and damaging winds.
There is concern that the tropical storm will then stall in the vicinity of Mindanao or the Visayas islands. Flooding is sure to result if this occurs as more torrential rain will be unleashed. Mudslides may ensue in the higher terrain.
AccuWeather.com meteorologists are also monitoring the possibility of Peipah stalling or significant slowing its forward progress before reaching the Philippines. That would delay the arrival of the heavy rain and flood threat in the Philippines until later in the week.

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