Super Typhoon Bavi, the ninth typhoon of the season, is moving north toward Guam and Saipan while maintaining super-strong intensity, heightening anxiety among summer holiday travelers. With the typhoon expected to head toward Taiwan and China, the possibility of successive flight cancellations has emerged, prompting travelers bound for Guam as well as Taiwan and Southeast Asia to closely watch operations.
According to the Korea Meteorological Administration on Monday, Typhoon Bavi was advancing west-northwest over waters at 15.9 degrees north latitude and 141.2 degrees east longitude as of 4 a.m. that day. With a central pressure of 910 hectopascals (hPa) and maximum wind speeds near the center reaching 56 meters per second (about 201 kilometers per hour), it is an extremely powerful system.
The KMA forecast that the typhoon would develop further on Monday before moving north to waters southeast of Taipei, Taiwan, on Wednesday morning, and to waters east of Taiwan on Friday. It is then expected to gradually weaken as it passes near Taiwan and makes landfall on mainland China.
Weather experts analyzed that the typhoon's eye is becoming more distinct while its strong-wind and storm zones are expanding simultaneously, saying there is a high possibility that Guam and Saipan will fall directly within its influence. Accordingly, delays and cancellations on Guam and Saipan routes are likely to continue at least through Monday.
Domestic airlines have also entered emergency response mode. Korean Air announced through its website that "abnormal flight operations are expected due to deteriorating weather," and notified passengers of the cancellation of a flight from Incheon to Guam that day. It then advised passengers to check flight information in advance. Jin Air also announced the possibility of delays and cancellations on its Guam routes, while Jeju Air and T'way Air urged passengers on Guam and Saipan routes to check in advance.
As a result, travelers departing for Taiwan or Southeast Asia this weekend are also unable to let their guard down.
Indeed, online travel communities have seen a stream of posts asking about operations, such as "Even if it doesn't make landfall directly at a Taiwan airport, can flights be canceled if they pass through the Taiwan Strait?", "Is normal operation possible if flights detour around the typhoon?", and "It's a family trip I booked months ago, and I'm not sure if we can depart." There are also voices worried about hotel and rental car cancellation fees.
The possibility that the Korean Peninsula could also be indirectly affected by the typhoon has been raised. The forecast suggests that water vapor and rain clouds left by the typhoon could move north and combine with the monsoon season to affect precipitation. The entire country is currently within the monsoon's influence, with heavy rain forecast mainly for the Seoul metropolitan area, the Chungcheong and Jeolla regions, and rain along with high-humidity heat is expected to continue through the latter part of this week.
Meanwhile, the Washington Post reported Thursday that a large-scale marine heat wave covering about 13.5% of the Earth's surface has formed across the Pacific. This marine heat wave, stretching from the Philippines to Peru and to Hawaii and the coast of California, is expected to have a cascading impact on weather around the world over the coming weeks, with the development of Super Typhoon Bavi cited as one representative example. The WP also forecast that a powerful "heat dome" phenomenon could appear in the western United States in the middle of this month.
