The first one this year The super typhoon erupted Thursday over the steaming waters of the western Pacific Ocean as Yagi headed toward land in southern China.
After forming as a tropical cyclone in the Philippine Sea on Sunday, the powerful storm peaked Thursday afternoon local time with maximum sustained winds of 150 mph, which would be equivalent to a Category 4 hurricane. At least 13 people died in the Philippines as a result of flooding and landslides.
Forecasters expect the storm to weaken slightly before it hits China’s Hainan island later this week, lashing the popular tourist destination with hazardous winds and hefty rain. Yagi is expected to be the strongest storm to hit the region in a decade, and the southern Chinese provinces of Hainan and Guangdong will close schools, shut bridges and ground flights in preparation.
But the ferocity of Super Typhoon Yagi is not as uncommon as one might think. The Western Pacific Ocean is uniquely capable of sustaining some of the strongest storms on Earth.
Satellite image of the Yagi satellite from September 4, 2024.Courtesy of NOAA
Typhoons are mighty tropical cyclones – a general term for low-pressure systems that develop as a result of a special process that is different from the “everyday” lows we experience on a daily basis.
Powerful storms bubbling around a low-pressure center act as an engine that powers these systems. Heated ocean waters provide these storms with the energy they need to survive and grow as they swirl through the tropics. These storms can last for days or even weeks as long as they maintain access to steamy waters and favorable conditions in the surrounding atmosphere.
All tropical cyclones are the same all over the world—the only difference is what we call them. A mature tropical cyclone in the Atlantic is called a hurricane, while the same storm in the western Pacific Ocean is called a typhoon.