Severe Tropical Storm Wipha (09W) – Tropical Cyclone Advisory #13: 0000 UTC 22 July 2025

Wipha making landfall in Vietnam south of Haiphong

Author

Will Weaver
July 21, 2025

…Wipha making landfall in Vietnam south of Haiphong…

Himawari-9 visible satellite image (Weathernerds)

Current storm information:

  • Position: 20.3°N 107.0°E

  • Movement: SW at 7 knots (10 km/h)

  • Intensity: 50 knots (95 km/h)

  • Central pressure: 980 hPa

Trend:

  • Rapid weakening is forecast during the next 24 hours and Wipha will likely weaken to a tropical depression by tonight.

Watches and warnings:

  • There are no land-based watches or warnings in effect. For local and marine watches and warnings, refer to products from your local weather office.

Hazards affecting land:

  • Wipha is likely to produce tropical storm conditions in northern Vietnam, including in the Hanoi metropolitan area, beginning on Tuesday. Heavy rainfall associated with Wipha and its remnants will spread over northern Laos and northern Thailand by Wednesday. This rainfall will likely cause widespread flooding. For further information, refer to products from your local weather office.

Discussion:

Himawari-9 infrared satellite image (Weathernerds)

Radar data indicates that the center of Wipha is currently in the process of making landfall in northern Vietnam to the south of Haiphong. The center is already becoming poorly defined, and most of the convection associated with Wipha is being sheared off to the west and southwest. The anticipated increase in shear has arrived, with CIMSS shear data indicating 30 to 35 kts of easterly shear impacting the system. Most of the internal structure appears to have decayed accordingly. However, Wipha does not yet appear to have weakened, as Haiphong reported a pressure of 982 hPa with sustained winds of about 28 kts. This resolves to a surface pressure of 980 hPa, and the intensity remains 50 kts based on surface observations and scatterometer data.

Composite radar image (CyclonicWx)

Now that Wipha is making landfall, its circulation should quickly decay over the rugged terrain and under even stronger easterly shear. The circulation should spin down fairly quickly during the next day or so before opening up into a trough of low pressure on Wednesday.

Global model guidance suggests that a new low pressure area could form near the entrance of the Gulf of Tonkin, south of Hainan Island, towards the end of the week. This system would be partially associated with the remnants of Wipha, but it does not appear it would be a continuation at this time.

Forecast positions and maximum winds

  • 00 hrs: 20.3°N 107.0°E – 50 kts

  • 12 hrs: 20.4°N 105.8°E – 35 kts inland

  • 24 hrs: 20.2°N 104.5°E – 25 kts Post-tropical/remnant low inland

  • 48 hrs: Dissipated

JMA forecast map