In mid-April 2026, a powerful typhoon bore down on the Mariana Islands in the North Pacific Ocean. The storm, Super Typhoon Sinlaku, was notable for reaching such exceptional strength so early in the year.
TheVIIRS on theSuomi NPP satellitecaptured this image at about 03:30 Universal Time on April 13, 2026, as Sinlaku approached the islands. At the time, the storm carried sustained winds of around 280 kilometers per hour. That places it as a violent typhoon—the highest intensity onthe scaleused by the Japan Meteorological Agency and equivalent to a category 5 storm on theSaffir-Simpson wind scale.
The storm continued along its northwest track toward the Marianas on the morning of April 14, as storm bands began to bring heavy rain to the islands of Saipan, Tinian, and Rota, according to anupdatefrom the National Weather Service.Forecastscalled for typhoon conditions to affect Saipan and Tinian from April 14 into April 15 before subsiding to tropical storm conditions.
Though Super Typhoon Sinlaku occurred in the troposphere, the lowest layer of the atmosphere, it formed gravity waves that were visible much higher. TheVIIRS on theNOAA-20satellite captured thisnighttime imageof the concentric wavesmade visiblein the mesosphere byairglow.
Sinlaku is the second category 5 tropical cyclone of 2026,following Horacio, which churned over the South Indian Ocean in late February. Meteorologistsnotethat Sinlaku is also one of only a handful of category 5 typhoons—atropical cyclonethat occurs in the Northwestern Pacific Ocean—known to have occurred so early in the year.
Meanwhile, several other storms spun over the planet’s oceans. On April 10, Tropical Cyclone Maila rotated in theopposite directionacross the equator, and on April 12, Tropical Cyclone Vaianucrossed New Zealand’s North Island.
NASA Earth Observatory image by Michala Garrison, using VIIRS data from NASAEOSDIS LANCE,GIBS/Worldview, and theSuomi National Polar-orbiting Partnership. Story by Kathryn Hansen.
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CIMSS Satellite BlogSuper Typhoon Sinlaku rapidly intensifies to a Category 5 storm. Accessed April 13, 2026.
Japan Meteorological AgencyTropical Cyclone Information. Accessed April 13, 2026.
Joint Typhoon Warning CenterSuper Typhoon 04W Warning #20. Accessed April 13, 2026.
National Weather ServiceZone Forecast for Guam and the Northern Marianas. Accessed April 13, 2026.
Yale Climate ConnectionsCat 5 Super Typhoon Sinlaku the 2nd-strongest typhoon so early in the year. Accessed April 13, 2026.
Yale Climate ConnectionsTropical Cyclone Horacio: Earth’s first Category 5 tropical cyclone of 2026. Accessed April 13, 2026.
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