The first of the year The super typhoon erupted into steaming waters in the western Pacific Ocean on Thursday as Yagi barreled toward an eventual landfall in southern China.
The powerful storm, which formed as a tropical cyclone in the Philippine Sea on Sunday, peaked on Thursday afternoon local time with maximum sustained winds of 240 km/h (150 mph), which would be equivalent to a Category 4 hurricane. At least 13 people have died in the Philippines as a result of flooding and landslides.
Forecasters expect the storm to weaken slightly before reaching China’s Hainan island later in the week, lashing the popular tourist destination with dangerous winds and torrential rain. Yagi is expected to be the strongest storm to hit the region in a decade, with Hainan and Guangdong provinces in southern China closing schools, bridges and flights in preparation.
But the ferocity of Super Typhoon Yagi is not as uncommon as you might think. The western Pacific Ocean is uniquely capable of withstanding some of the strongest storms on Earth.
A satellite image of Yagi on September 4, 2024.Courtesy of NOAA
Typhoons are strong tropical cyclones, a general term for low-pressure systems that develop through a special process compared to the “everyday” low pressures we regularly deal with.
Powerful thunderstorms that form around the center of low pressures act as the engine that drives these systems. Warm ocean waters provide these storms with the energy they need to survive and thrive as they swirl around the tropics. These storms can continue for days or even weeks, as long as they maintain access to warm waters and favorable conditions in the surrounding atmosphere.
All tropical cyclones are the same around 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.