Typhoon Sadler could strengthen again as unusual track puzzles forecasters

Typhoon Sadler may return as a tropical system after weakening over China, a rare turn in a storm that has already taken an unusual route near Taiwan.

Sadler approached waters north of Taiwan last Thursday and Friday before making landfall in China on Saturday. It quickly weakened first into a tropical depression and then into a low-pressure system. Taiwan’s Central Weather Administration said the circulation did not fully dissipate because a broad low-pressure belt continued supplying moisture.

The remaining system could move back over the sea and strengthen enough to be classified again as a typhoon or tropical depression, while retaining its original name. Forecasters said it could strengthen slightly near Hainan Island and Guangxi, potentially reaching the lower threshold of a typhoon, before moving toward the southern Taiwan Strait.

The storm’s track moved northwest after forming, passed north of Taiwan, weakened after reaching China’s Zhejiang province, then continued southward and returned toward the northeast and north. Forecast center director Huang Chun-hsi said the path followed the surrounding low-pressure pattern, which was affected by a branch of high pressure over China. Changes in that pattern were expected to turn the system northeastward.

The agency said Sadler’s strength would likely remain limited and that Taiwan faced no direct impact. Central and southern Taiwan and Taitung could still see local heavy or extremely heavy rain as southwesterly winds strengthen. Huang said storms that weaken into depressions or lows and later strengthen again have become less common in recent years. A notable regional example was Typhoon Wayne in 1986, which entered and left the area three times and prompted three typhoon warnings.