An area of low pressure developed as a tropical depression about 350 km south of Macao over the South China Sea at around 06 UTC on 28th August and moved slowly to the west. It tracked along the 300 km equidistant loop from Macao for about seventeen hours from around 12 UTC on 28th August till 05 UTC on the next day and then started to steer away towards Hainan. After skirting northern Hainan, the tropical depression entered Gulf of Beibu on 30th August and veered to the north towards the coastline. During its lifespan, it had only been intensified into a tropical storm from around 12 UTC on 30th August till 06 UTC on the next day and named FITOW. On making landfall around 12 UTC on 31st August, FITOW continued to weaken when moving slowly onshore and finally dissipated over land at around 00 UTC on 2nd September.

Record of tropical cyclone signal hoisting:
 
DATE
TIME
HOISTED SIGNAL
28 / AUG
22:30
The standby signal No. 1
29 / AUG
13:30
The strong wind signal No. 3
30 / AUG
06:00
All signals were lowered