Why Super Typhoons Like Yagi Are More Common Than You Think

First year The super typhoon surged into the hot, humid waters of the Western Pacific on Thursday as it headed toward southern China.

Forming as a tropical storm in the Philippine Sea on Sunday, the powerful storm 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 due to flooding and landslides.

Forecasters expect the storm to weaken slightly before hitting China’s Hainan island over the weekend, bringing dangerous winds and flooding rain to the popular tourist destination. Yagi is expected to be the strongest storm to hit the region in a decade, with southern China’s Hainan and Guangdong provinces closing schools, closing bridges and delaying flights in preparation.

But Super Typhoon Yagi’s strength isn’t as rare as one might think. The Western Pacific has the unique ability to support some of the strongest storms on Earth.

Satellite image of Yagi as of September 4, 2024.Courtesy of NOAA

A hurricane is a strong tropical cyclone, a general term for low pressure systems that develop through a process unique to the “everyday” low pressure we regularly encounter.

Powerful thunderstorms bubbling around low-pressure centers act like engines to power these systems. Warm ocean waters provide the 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 have access to warm waters and favorable conditions in the surrounding atmosphere.

All tropical storms are the same all over the world—the only difference is what we call them. A fully formed tropical storm in the Atlantic Ocean is called a hurricane, while the same storm in the western Pacific Ocean is called a tropical storm.