Simultaneously, the cyclone entered the area of responsibility of the Philippine Atmospheric, Geophysical and Astronomical Services Administration, which named it Tropical Storm Weng.[6] Meteorologically, the storm began to exhibit improved outflow and deepening convection as it neared the central Philippines.[1] At around 1600 UTC on November 13, Nepartak made landfall on northern Samar Island in the Philippines before traversing the remainder of the archipelago from east to west.[5] The cyclone emerged into the South China Sea briefly weakened and with reduced forward motion, but quickly resumed its intensification trend as it turned more toward the northwest.[1] Shortly thereafter—at 0000 UTC on November 15—the JTWC further upgraded 25W to a typhoon.[3]