Cimaron, the 22nd tropical cyclone of the west Pacific season, formed a couple days ago and has strengthened into a cat 4 storm, with winds of 120 kts. The storm (known as Typhoon "Paeng" in the Philippines) is moving WNW and is likely to hit northern Luzon island in the Philippines in about 18 hrs. as a 130 kt. supertyphoon. The system is looking very impressive on satellite and has a very distinct eye. Likely landfall would appear to be over Isabela province.

After crossing Luzon the storm is expected to find less favorable conditions over the South China Sea and slowly weaken. It should be down to a tropical storm by the time it reaches Vietnam.