The Largest and Most Powerful Tropical Cyclone On Record

A giant and terrifying storm

(By SSEC/CIMSS, University of Wisconsin–Madison, Attribution, https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=152535833)

In October of 1979, a small, disorganized storm appeared in the Monsoon Trough draped across the Central Pacific Ocean. At first, the storm struggled to organize as it was being affected by another nearby storm, Tropical Storm Roger. Roger was creating a large upper-level circulation that was hampering the development of the younger storm nearby. Despite its early struggles, the storm would eventually be given a name — Tip. Typhoon Tip would emerge from the shadow of Tropical Storm Roger and explode into the largest and most powerful tropical cyclone ever recorded on planet Earth.

Between October 5th and October 10th, Typhoon Tip meandered near the island of Guam. At first, the storm was predicted to make landfall on Guam as a tropical storm but the storm surprised observers and turned sharply to the west and avoiding the island. With Guam out of its path, Typhoon Tip moved over the open waters of the Pacific where it rapidly intensified into the equivalent of a Category 4 hurricane.

On October 12th, the storm had tanked to a worldwide record low pressure of 870 millibars and had one-minute sustained winds of 190 mph, making it the equivalent of an extremely powerful Category 5 hurricane. For comparison, the lowest pressure ever recorded in the Atlantic Basin was 882 millibars within the center of Hurricane Wilma.

With the explosion in strength also came an explosion in size. Typhoon Tip expanded to an eyewatering 1,380 mi in diameter with tropical storm force winds extended outward nearly 700 mi from the center. That is the largest wind field ever observed. Typhoon Tip was nearly twice the size of the second largest storm on record. Typhoon Tip was so large that it would have encompassed nearly all of the Western United States at its peak. (The storm would envelop all of Japan in its final days but at a much weaker strength.)

Tip became the storm with the lowest measured pressure while also having the highest observed size. That is incredible.

(By Morn — Own work, CC0, https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=151038777)