The Japan Times66%
Two storms approach Japan, with possible convergence complicating forecasts 5%
By Yukana Inoue0%
6/25/2026, 7:34:00 AM
BS Summary: This article contains 8 faulty reasoning types, including Appeal to Authority, Negativity Bias, and Framing Effect, with Post Hoc (False Cause) as the most egregious example at 19.6% saturation with 75 hits. Analysis detected 298 faulty-reasoning hits from 382 analyzed words, generating a BS Score of 18.8% and a BS Rank of 5% (20,343 of 21,203 articles). This article is better (less manipulative) than 95.90% of the article peer group.
Two tropical storms are expected to approach mainland Japan this weekend, and their simultaneous arrival is complicating forecasts for the coming days.
The possible convergence of Tropical Storm Mekkhala, which was downgraded to a severe tropical storm after earlier reaching typhoon strength, and Tropical Storm Higos, could result in the Fujiwhara effect — a phenomenon that occurs when two storms get close enough to each other to interact.
If this occurs, the storms may stray from forecast pathways and act unpredictably, with possible behaviors including diverging, moving in succession or even merging into one storm.
As of 3 p.m.
Thursday, Mekkhala was located approximately 110 kilometers southeast of Miyako Island, Okinawa Prefecture.
It was moving at a speed of 15 kph, with a central pressure of 985 hectopascals and maximum gusts of 144 kph.
In the coming days, Mekkhala is expected to approach southern Japan and turn eastward, possibly reaching the Pacific side of western to eastern Japan on Saturday.
Higos was observed east of the Philippines as of Thursday afternoon, and is gradually making its way toward Japan.
It is forecast to move northeast and approach mainland Japan on the Pacific coast around Sunday morning after becoming an extratropical cyclone.
Meanwhile, the Kyushu region experienced heavy rain on Thursday as a result of a seasonal rain front, with the city of Yame in Fukuoka Prefecture seeing the most rainfall at 195 millimeters over the course of 12 hours as of 9:30 a.m.
Also on Thursday, the Japan Meteorological Agency (JMA) issued a Level 4 warning on its 5-level alert system over potential landslides in several areas across Fukuoka, Saga, Nagasaki and Oita prefectures, although some of the alerts have already been lifted.
Warnings over high waves and strong winds have also been issued for islands in the Okinawa and Amami regions on Thursday.
Maximum wind speeds in the area are expected to reach 108 kph on Friday — strong enough to overturn a moving truck.
Rain is expected to intensify across Japan as Mekkhala nears, with the JMA forecasting up to 300 mm of rainfall in the Tokai region over the 24 hour period starting Friday at noon.
Both the Kinki and Shikoku regions are forecast to experience up to 200 mm.
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