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The Eye
Joined August 2023
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Our predictions are our own, and are not meant to replace official forecasts, directions, or advice.
This is one of the most terrifying thought-experiments for us in the Atlantic Basin.
If you put Super Typhoon Champi in the Gulf and compare her to the strongest known Atlantic Hurricanes, none of them will be able to match her combination of extreme winds (185+ MPH) and huge core size.
The West Pacific, without contest, is where the most monstrous storms on Earth are born.
CO pollutants from the widespread wildfires in Indonesia are being pulled into the circulation of Typhoon Champi.
Backpirch Weather retweeted
With her new peak intensity of 185 MPH and 895 MBAR, Super Typhoon Champi has officially pulled closer to Super Typhoon Sinlaku’s estimated 185 MPH and 890 MBAR.
Considering their peak satellite presentations, which storm do you now think is the world’s MOST POWERFUL of 2026?
58%Super Typhoon Champi
42%Super Typhoon Sinlaku
689 votes • Final results
Super Typhoon Champi has possibly achieved the maximum theoretical intensity a storm with an inner core as large as hers can reach on Earth.
Subtropical Storm Josephine, the 10th named storm of the Atlantic Hurricane Season, has formed off the east coast of the United States.
Backpirch Weather retweeted
NHC will initiate advisories on Subtropical Storm Josephine (formerly AL93), located offshore of the U.S. East Coast, at 500 PM EDT (2100 UTC).
🧵 With 8 hours left to go in the poll, this is a detailed thread of debate between which storm this year likely had the STRONGEST winds vs the MOST INTENSE pressure globally.
(1/4) Super Typhoon Champi’s monstrous secondary peak of 895 MBAR last night has a high degree of confidence, based on the buoy reading of ~909 MBAR on the very edge of her eye. The 185 MPH wind estimate is solid, and could plausibly be upped to 190 MPH in post-season analysis if Mawar (2023) is any precedent.
With her new peak intensity of 185 MPH and 895 MBAR, Super Typhoon Champi has officially pulled closer to Super Typhoon Sinlaku’s estimated 185 MPH and 890 MBAR.
Considering their peak satellite presentations, which storm do you now think is the world’s MOST POWERFUL of 2026?
58%Super Typhoon Champi
42%Super Typhoon Sinlaku
689 votes • Final results(4/4) Finally, there is Super Typhoon Sinlaku back in April.
Unfortunately, all we have for this one is satellite estimation techniques, but we cannot forget how extreme she was on IR.
Sinlaku truly had one of the all-time satellite presentations. Rivaling Hurricane Melissa and almost reaching Haiyan levels. She very well could be officially upgraded to 190 MPH in post-analysis and might’ve been 195 MPH just by appearance alone, so it would be safest to assume she had the strongest winds out of this group.
As for pressure, we just don’t know. By the official authority of the WPAC basin (JMA), Sinlaku now trails Champi for the world’s most intense storm of the year (905 mb vs 900 mb). The JTWC, however, is in all reality more accurate here (Sinlaku 890 mb vs Champi 895 mb). So, the only possibility of Sinlaku NOT also being the most intense storm of the year is if recon just missed sub-890 mb in Polo, or if Champi went truly thermonuclear west of Guam before her first EWRC began.
But we’ll probably never know for certain.
The STRONGEST STORMS ON EARTH in 2026 by lowest estimated pressure:
🇲🇵 890 mb in Super Typhoon Sinlaku
🇲🇽 892 mb in Hurricane Polo
🇯🇵 895 mb in Super Typhoon Champi
🇲🇵 901 mb in Super Typhoon Bavi
🇯🇵 909 mb in Super Typhoon Dolphin
You are looking at the strongest storm on the entire planet tonight.
Super Typhoon Champi has been an absolute monster now for 24 straight hours.
Backpirch Weather retweeted
Interesting trends for the track of #Champi. AI models (including Google Deepmind) have actually been trending a little west towards Taiwan over the last few cycles, though the mean track still turns just NE of the island. Physics-based models are holding firm in forecasting a direct hit on the island.
This is a rather short-term forecast at this point: only about 3 days.
This will be a fascinating case to continue to follow over the next few days, and folks in Taiwan should definitely prepare for the possibility of a strong typhoon landfall.
#Champi is looking extremely impressive after its latest ERC completed, and is up to 155-knot intensity.
There's still an interesting battle between the dynamical models and AI models for track. Dynamical models (including GFS and Euro) show a slightly stronger ridge to the north and take the storm right into #Taiwan. The AI models (including EC-AIFS and Google DeepMind) show the ridge eroding just enough for the storm to curve east of Taiwan and towards southern #Japan.
I wouldn't bet against AI on a large-scale setup and track given its recent history, but it will be interesting to see.
