A "Super-Strong Typhoon" Approaching in Late October... What Areas Will Be Affected?

[Anchor]

The weather has turned quite chilly, but an unusually super-strong typhoon is moving northward in late October. It could affect Jeju Island and the southern regions.

Reporter Jeong Gu-hui has the details.

[Reporter]

This is Typhoon Champi currently moving northward.

While about 26 typhoons are formed annually on average, this is already the 30th one this year.

As a maximum-strength Level 5 typhoon, terrifying winds of 209 kilometers per hour are howling from its center.

With a radius of a massive 500 kilometers, it is large enough to more than cover the entire Korean Peninsula.

The typhoon is currently moving northwest toward Taiwan.

Because a strong jet stream, or westerly wind, is blowing about 5 kilometers above South Korea, the typhoon is expected to shift its direction eastward as it approaches the vicinity of the country.

Therefore, the Korea Meteorological Administration projected that the typhoon will pass northern Taiwan and reach Kyushu, Japan, this coming Sunday.

Given the colder weather, the KMA forecasts that the typhoon's intensity will rapidly weaken to Level 1 in the distant waters of the South Sea before dissipating upon reaching Japan.

However, because the typhoon is bringing in massive amounts of water vapor, rain is forecast due to indirect effects: on Jeju Island on Friday, in South Jeolla Province and South Gyeongsang Province on Saturday, and extending to the Chungcheong and southern regions on Sunday.

Predictions from Japan and the United States, however, differ somewhat.

Japan projects that the typhoon will pass further north through the Korea Strait, bringing it quite close to Jeju Island.

If this happens, Jeju Island and the southern coast could fall directly under the typhoon's impact zone.

The United States predicts the typhoon will take a path somewhere in between: slightly north of the KMA's forecast and slightly south of Japan's prediction.

We will likely need to monitor the typhoon's path through the weekend.

So far, the latest typhoon to affect South Korea was Typhoon Zeb in 1998.

Although it landed in Japan, the KMA recorded that South Korea was directly affected by the typhoon from October 16 to 18.

If this current typhoon directly impacts South Korea, it will become the latest October typhoon on record.

(Video editing: Kim Yun-seong, Design: Cho Su-in)
※ Please note: This article was translated by AI and may contain errors.