[Weather] Shanghai to See Strong Winds, Rain on Sunday as Typhoon Dolphin Moves Closer

Hot, muggy weather in Shanghai will give way to strong wind and scattered rain this weekend as Typhoon Dolphin closes in on the East China coast.

Forecasters said the storm will most likely make landfall in neighboring Zhejiang Province around Sunday or Monday.

The city will feel the storm's outer bands starting Friday, bringing periods of strong wind and occasional rain, according to Shanghai's weather forecasters.

More noticeable wind and rain are expected from Sunday into early next week, along with falling temperatures – the high next Tuesday could drop to 28 degrees Celsius.

Dolphin, the 13th typhoon of the year, entered China's 48-hour alert zone on Thursday night, a designation forecasters use when a storm is expected to approach the coast within two days.

As of 11am Thursday, it was centered about 1,260 kilometers east of Wenzhou, Zhejiang, moving west at about 20 kilometers per hour with sustained winds of 42 meters per second near its center – strong enough to be classified as a severe typhoon.

The storm is expected to cross the Ryukyu Islands on Friday and enter the East China Sea, then move closer to the coast over the weekend.

The Zhejiang Provincial Meteorological Bureau said on Thursday that Dolphin will most likely make landfall along the Zhejiang coast between Sunday afternoon and Monday as a typhoon or severe typhoon.

Forecasters said the storm could turn near the coast and move north through the Zhoushan Archipelago, sparing a direct hit but still bringing heavy weather.

Zhejiang authorities have told fishing boats to return to port and are reinforcing coastal facilities against wind damage.

They also warned of flash floods, landslides and river flooding from heavy rain. The storm has already prompted the closure of some scenic spots in the province and the postponement of events.

From August 8 to 12, the Yangtze River Delta region around Shanghai, and Zhejiang, central Hubei, Jiangsu, Anhui, Henan, and Shandong provinces will see the most rain.

Some areas could see extremely heavy downpours, according to the National Meteorological Center.

North China, central and eastern Inner Mongolia, and southern Northeast China may experience heavy rain from August 12 to 14 after Dolphin weakens.

Dolphin has traveled over 4,700 km in 10 days since July 27. Weather data show it would be the farthest-east-forming typhoon to hit China since 1951, breaking the 2018 record set by Typhoon Mangkhut.

Two other storms are active in the western Pacific but pose no threat to China as of now.

Typhoon Chan-hom, the season's 15th, was about 2,660 kilometers east-southeast of Tokyo on Thursday, moving northwest at 30 kilometers per hour.

Typhoon Kujira, the 14th, made landfall on the west coast of the Philippines' Luzon Island Thursday morning and has weakened to a tropical depression.