Macau's amateur weatherman warned off

A popular amateur weatherman in Macau known for his accurate typhoon forecasts has run into a spot of turbulence.

Towin Mak, a singer-songwriter and self-confessed meteorology addict, has been monitoring Macau's weather for more than two decades. His typhoon forecasts on the internet often came earlier than the meteorological bureau's and have helped hundreds of residents plan their outdoor activities around the weather.

But the internet account with which he made forecasts in a popular online forum has been banned. In July, he was invited to the Judiciary Police bureau for a 'chat', where an officer told Mak that while it was not against the law to post weather forecasts, he should avoid causing a public disturbance with his forecasts.

A police bureau spokesman said it would not take action against unofficial weather forecasts on the internet unless someone claimed to be a victim of such forecasts.

Despite the ban, it would be difficult to prise Mak away from his favourite obsession.

'I am addicted to it. In the past 28 years, I've been trying to follow almost every storm.' He depends on the constantly updated meteorological graphs from Taiwan's observatory website to analyse typhoons, often staying up late to study the latest graphs. 'When Typhoon Koppu came, I stayed up until 7am.'