Between five to eight tropical cyclones may affect Macau this year, the Macau Meteorological and Geophysical Bureau (SMG) estimated.
The first tropical cyclone could arrive in Macau in the the first half of June or even before that period, “which means it may be a little earlier than the climatic average,” the SMG informed.
The SMG held a special press conference for World Meteorological Day on Friday to introduce the meteorological services, work to be carried out this year and the tropical storm and rainfall forecast for this year.
This year’s World Meteorological Day theme is Early Warning and Early Action, “which highlights the importance of hydro-meteorological information to assist in disaster prevention and mitigation, however, situations affecting Macau are not exceptions,” the authority stressed.
The number of tropical cyclones will be from normal to relatively high and some of them may reach the severe typhoon or super typhoon levels, the SMG forecast.
The total rainfall during the wet season, April to September, is predicted to be normal to relatively high, but heavy storms may also occur. “The temperature will be normal to relatively high,” the bureau added.
A total of three tropical storms impacted the MSAR last year, with an average of almost 423mm – the highest maximum precipitation average recorded in Macau. A total of 570.8 mm was recorded in October 2021.
“The SMG will improve the dissemination of severe weather warning information in a number of different and continuous ways this year,” the bureau noted.
Moreover, the SMG will also obtain ISO certification for severe weather warning services and improve the quality of services; at the same time, it will install more monitoring stations, import a central lightning information processing system and implement a “nowcasting” system in order to provide more comprehensive and objective information for surveillance, analysis and forecasting of severe weather and the atmospheric environment.
