Earth’s Strongest Storm This Year Headed For US Territories

The Earth’s strongest storm this year is about to strike U.S. territories in the western Pacific Ocean. A strengthening Super Typhoon Yutu, with sustained winds of 180 mph, is on a trek through the Northern Mariana Islands. The storm is roaring across the islands of Saipan and Tinian, both U.S. territories, and will become among the most intense storms - if not the most - on record to impact U.S. soil. The Joint Typhoon Warning Center now considers Yutu an incredibly strong Category 5 equivalent typhoon. Because reconnaissance planes do not fly in the western Pacific to directly measure conditions inside storms, the intensity of 180 mph, or 155 knots, is based on estimates from satellites. Meteorologist Ryan Maue of WeatherModels.com tweeted that the storm would be a "Category 6 if Atlantic scale was extrapolated."