Tropical Storm Mawar rapidly strengthened in the Pacific and was expected to become a powerful typhoon, threatening to bring high winds and possible flooding to the Mariana Islands, including Guam, the National Weather Service said.
The storm, which formed early on Sunday morning local time and was slowly moving northward, could hit Guam, a U.S. territory, as early as Tuesday, said Brandon Bukunt, a meteorologist with the Weather Service.
“We might have to put out typhoon warnings, in which typhoon conditions are expected,” Mr. Bukunt said. “But for right now, given the uncertainty, we have a typhoon watch, which means that typhoon conditions are possible within two days.”
Tropical Storm Mawar had maximum sustained wind speeds of 60 miles per hour as of Sunday 5 p.m. local time, when it was about 475 miles southeast of Guam, the Weather Service said.
For the storm to be classified as a typhoon, its wind speeds would have to be greater than 74 m.p.h.,Mr. Bukunt said. The Weather…
This article was written by Eduardo Medina and originally published on www.nytimes.com