Join Our Community of Science Lovers!
A cyclone in the Philippine Sea reached wind speeds of about 185 miles per hour (around 290 kilometers per hour) on Tuesday afternoon EST. Those wind speeds are the strongest of any storm this year, forecasters say.
As of Wednesday morning EST, Super Typhoon Champi had winds of 175 miles per hour; it is expected to weaken in the next day or so, according to the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration. The storm is currently about 430 nautical miles south of Kadena Air Base in Japan and is heading northwest, according to the Joint Typhoon Warning Center.
You’re more likely to see strong storms in the western Pacific than anywhere else on the planet. But the typhoon underscores how tumultuous Pacific storm activity has been in comparison with activity in the Atlantic. In the North Atlantic, 2026’s strongest storm so far was Hurricane Isaias, which had maximum winds of 120 mph (193 kph), according to Colorado State University’s (CSU’s) cyclone database. By contrast, in the northeastern Pacific, September’s Hurricane Polo hit wind speeds of about 178 mph (286 kph), while in the northwestern Pacific, April’s Typhoon Sinlaku and July’s Typhoon Bavi also reached around the same strength. Champi is the 25th northwestern Pacific storm this year, according to CSU’s tracker.
On supporting science journalism
If you're enjoying this article, consider supporting our award-winning journalism by subscribing. By purchasing a subscription you are helping to ensure the future of impactful stories about the discoveries and ideas shaping our world today.
To be considered a typhoon or a hurricane, a cyclone must achieve wind speeds of at least 74 mph (119 kph). The designation of hurricane or typhoon depends on where the cyclone occurs. In the Northern Hemisphere, Pacific cyclones that occur west of the international date line are considered typhoons, while those occurring east of that border are categorized as hurricanes.
It’s been a historic year for cyclones. As Scientific American previously reported, the Atlantic has been unusually quiet: Hurricane Isaias was the first storm of its kind for the season, setting a record for the latest-forming first Atlantic hurricane since reliable record-keeping began. Meanwhile the Hawaiian Islands in the Pacific Ocean have seen an unusually high number of hurricanes this season.
Those trends are driven in part by El Niño, a climate pattern that influences weather across the globe. During El Niño years, hurricanes activity tends to slow in the Atlantic and pick up in parts of the Pacific.
Subscribe to Support Independent Journalism
Great science journalism requires human expertise, time, effort and creativity. And it costs money. That’s why I and the journalists here at Scientific American hope you’ll join our community.
When you subscribe, you are supporting staff and freelance journalists who are passionate about telling science stories that are true, important and compelling. Our editors and reporters are often experts in their fields, which means they understand the nuances of big discoveries and can untangle the breakthroughs from the hype. With a subscription, you are also supporting rigorous fact-checking to ensure the words we publish are precise and accurate. And you’re supporting original illustrations, graphics and photos that bring you closer to an advanced laboratory, an ice sheet in Antarctica or a space mission in orbit. You’re helping us craft other types of high-quality journalism as well: Our newsletters are carefully written, edited and curated by staffers you have or will come to know and love. Our Science Quickly podcast is based on original reporting, collaboration with editors and scientists and exacting production.
Subscriptions keep this engine running so we can continue to deliver thoughtful, rigorous and independent science journalism to you. In an era of viral misinformation, this work is crucial. If you value what we do, I hope you’ll consider joining us as a subscriber