Super Typhoon Champi has become the strongest storm of 2026 by maximum sustained wind speed, reaching nearly 185 miles per hour.
Champi, now the equivalent of a Category 5 hurricane, reached that intensity as it moved over the Philippine Sea, east of the Philippines and southeast of Taiwan, on Wednesday morning, local time, according to the National Weather Service.
After forming as a tropical storm last Thursday, Champi took less than two days to intensify into the equivalent of a Category 4 hurricane. The storm barreled northwest across the Pacific Ocean and came within 10 miles of Guam on Saturday.
This is the third time Champi has reached the equivalent of a Category 5 hurricane. The first was six hours after it passed Guam on Oct. 17, with sustained winds of around 165 m.p.h. It then briefly weakened before intensifying to Category 5 strength for a second time the following day.
Champi’s sustained winds — the highest average wind speed recorded over a continuous minute — exceeded the 180 m.p.h. reached by Hurricane Polo off Mexico in September, but remained below the 215 m.p.h. record set by Hurricane Patricia in 2015.
Hurricane Polo remained unbeaten this year on a different metric: It recorded a lower minimum central pressure of 892 millibars, compared to Champi’s 895 millibars. The central pressure measurement of a storm gauges its intensity, with a lower central pressure generally indicating a stronger storm.
Champi began to weaken on Wednesday, with maximum sustained winds just over 170 m.p.h., according to the Joint Typhoon Warning Center. Forecasters said the storm was expected to move northwest over cooler ocean waters, causing it to weaken further in the coming days.
Its exact path remained uncertain. Some forecast models predicted that Champi would continue toward Taiwan and then China, while others expected it to turn northeast toward Japan.
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