Pagasa Administrator Nathaniel Servando shared that two tropical cyclones currently within the Philippine Area of Responsibility (PAR) are beginning to interact.
These systems are Tropical Storm Dante and Tropical Depression Emong.
In an interview with Bombo Radyo, Servando explained that Dante, being the more dominant system, is influencing the movement of Emong.
This interaction is drawing Emong toward Eastern Taiwan, although before heading in that direction, it is expected to loop over the Ilocos Region.
“Given their current distance of around 1000 kilometers, they are interacting—technically, this is the Fujiwhara Effect. Dante is stronger than Emong and is attracting it toward Eastern Taiwan. Based on Emong’s projected track, it will loop west of Ilocos Region before moving toward Taiwan,” Servando said.
The Fujiwhara Effect refers to the interaction between two nearby cyclonic systems, causing them to rotate around a common center.
The phenomenon was named after Dr. Sakuhei Fujiwhara, a Japanese meteorologist who first described this behavior in 1921 during his studies of water vortices.
When this occurs, the storms appear to “dance” around one another, potentially resulting in changes to their paths, rotation, or even merger into a single system.
