First of the year A super typhoon developed over the moist waters of the western Pacific on Thursday, and Yagi is expected to eventually make landfall in southern China.
The powerful storm, which formed as a tropical depression in the Philippine Sea on Sunday, peaked Thursday afternoon local time with maximum sustained winds of 150 mph, equivalent to a Category 4 hurricane. At least 13 people have died in the Philippines, causing flooding and landslides.
Forecasters expect the storm to weaken somewhat before it hits China’s Hainan Island by the end of the week, bringing dangerous winds and heavy rain to the popular tourist destination. Yagi is expected to be the strongest storm to hit the region in a decade, and southern China’s Hainan and Guangdong provinces are preparing to close schools, close bridges and suspend flights.
But the ferocity of Super Typhoon Yagi is not as rare as you might think. The Western Pacific has a unique ability to withstand some of the most powerful storms on Earth.
Satellite image of Yagi on September 4, 2024.Provided by NOAA
A typhoon is a powerful tropical cyclone, a general term for a low-pressure system that develops through a special process compared to the “normal” low-pressure systems we regularly experience.
Powerful thunderstorms bubble around the low pressure center, acting as the engine that drives these systems. Warm ocean waters provide the energy these thunderstorms need to survive and thrive as they swirl through the tropics. These storms can last for days or even weeks as long as they have access to warm water and favorable conditions in the surrounding atmosphere.
All tropical cyclones around the world are the same. The only difference is the name we give them. A mature tropical cyclone in the Atlantic is called a hurricane, while the same storm in the western Pacific is called a typhoon.
