The Central Meteorological Observatory continued to issue an orange typhoon warning at 6 p.m. on August 26. At 5 p.m. that day, the center of this year's 18th typhoon, Sardel (severe typhoon strength), was located on the sea about 600 kilometers east-northeast of the Zhejiang-Fujian border, at 28.4 degrees north latitude and 126.4 degrees east longitude. Maximum winds near the center reached force 14 (42 meters per second), with minimum central pressure of 955 hectopascals. The radius of force-7 winds was 350-400 kilometers, force-10 winds 120-150 kilometers, and force-12 winds 50-60 kilometers.
Sardel is forecast to move first toward the west at about 10 kilometers per hour with little change in strength, then turn west-southwest from early morning on the 27th, making landfall on the coast between Xiangshan in Zhejiang and Lianjiang in Fujian from the night of the 27th to the morning of the 28th, with landfall winds of 35-42 meters per second (force 12-14, typhoon or severe typhoon strength). After landfall it will gradually weaken.
From 8 p.m. on August 26 to 8 p.m. on the 27th, the northern Taiwan Strait, most of the East China Sea, the Yangtze River estuary and Hangzhou Bay, the Zhejiang coast, the central and northern Fujian coast, the southeastern Jiangsu coast and waters near Diaoyu Island will see gales of force 6-8 with gusts of 9-10. In the central and southern East China Sea, winds will reach force 9-12 with gusts of 13-14, and areas near Sardel's center will experience force 13-14 winds with gusts of 15-16.
During the same period, the northeastern Zhejiang coast will see heavy rain, with forecast rainfall of 25-40 millimeters.
