"The Joint Typhoon Warning Center believe Kai-Tak will become stronger."Pekanbaru (ANTARA News) - A tropical storm named Kai-Tak (locally known as Helen) that recently slammed the Philippines could cause temperatures to rise above normal in Indonesia, said Pekanbaru branch of the Meteorology, Climatology and Geophysics Agency (BMKG) here on Wednesday.
An analyst, Aristya Ardhitama, said the air temperature in Indonesia generally, and Sumatera in particular, was quite warm, with a maximum temperature of 34 degrees Celsius, due to the Kai-Tak storm.
"Kai-Tak is a new term to describe the storm which hit the Philippines. The storm struck the country on Monday (Aug 13) at around 8.00 pm local time, or 7.00 pm Jakarta time," Ardhitama said.
The storm has pulled surrounding winds towards the Philippines and caused a lack of rain and decreased winds, resulting in warmer air temperatures.
Nonetheless, Ardhitama added, the impact of Kai-Tak to Indonesia would not be too severe, although it would cause drought in some areas.
"For now, it may cause greater forest fires and more arid weather. But if the storm moves past the Philippines or closer to Indonesia, the impact would be worse," he said.
Meanwhile, the National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) website said the rising air that forms the thunderstorms that make up the tropical storm of Kai-Tak has strengthened around the center of the storm, as the image of Kai-Tak was captured by NASA's Terra satellite.
Kai-Tak was expected to make landfall north of Hong Kong on Thursday (Aug 16), according to NASA. Although forecasters at the Joint Typhoon Warning Center believe Kai-Tak will become stronger, it was expected to weaken before making landfall due to the cooling ocean temperatures and wind shear.
(Uu.F013/INE/KR-BSR/O001)
Editor: Priyambodo RH
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