Weakening Typhoon Maysak Heads for Philippines

By Kristina Pydynowski, Senior Meteorologist

April 2,2015; 7:17PM,EDT

 

 

Residents of the Philippines can breathe a sigh of relief but should not let their guard down since once-Super Typhoon Maysak is weakening yet remains on course to make landfall this weekend.
Maysak (locally known as Chedeng) was at its peak intensity when March transitioned to April with maximum sustained winds of 260 kph (160 mph), which is the equivalent of a Category 5 hurricane.
Strong and disruptive wind shear has caused Maysak to weaken, a trend that will continue as the typhoon continues its journey toward the Philippines.
Maysak will either be a tropical storm or on the verge of becoming one when it makes landfall in northern Luzon Island early Sunday morning, local time (Saturday evening EDT).
The entire eastern beaches of the Philippines are already feeling the outer effects of Maysak, in the form of rough surf and a high rip current threat.
Dangerous surf will continue to build along the eastern coast of Luzon through the start to the weekend.

The northern and central eastern coast of Luzon will otherwise face the worst of Maysak Saturday night through Sunday.
Damaging winds of 80 to 115 kph (50 to 70 mph) will whip the coast near and north of where Maysak comes onshore. A total of 50 to 100 mm (2 to 4 inches) of rain will inundate the northern and central coast, along with the neighboring mountains.
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Wind capable of causing tree damage and sporadic power outages, along with some flooding downpours, will spread across the rest of northern Luzon on Sunday. Threats in Manila will be limited to tropical downpours on Sunday that may cause localized flooding.
The weakening trend of Maysak will continue to close out the weekend due to the mountainous terrain of Luzon.
This satellite image of Maysak tracking across the Pacific Ocean is courtesy of NOAA.
After exiting the Philippines, Maysak is not expected to restrengthen despite crossing the South China Sea early next week. The once-super typhoon, which was one of the strongest cyclones in history during the months of January, February and March, will instead weaken further and will likely dissipate.