The Year's Strongest Storm Is Headed for Hong Kong

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An atmospheric monster has blossomed in the western Pacific Ocean, and it could have a devastating impact on Hong Kong this weekend.

On Thursday, Super Typhoon Usagi—now officially Earth’s strongest storm this year—rapidly grew from tropical storm strength to the equivalent of a category five hurricane, the scale’s highest level. That transformation occurred in an impressively short period of time: the storm’s estimated winds increased in speed by about 85mph (140kph) in less than a day—good enough for one of the fastest intensification rates ever recorded. Maximum wind gusts within Usagi are now estimated to be an incredible 170 knots (see below), or 195 mph (315 kph).

And it may be even stronger than that. Unlike in the Atlantic Ocean, there are no direct ‘hurricane hunter‘-style aircraft observations of typhoons in the Pacific, so we don’t really know how strong this mega-storm is. One