The Largest and Most Powerful Tropical Cyclone On Record
A giant and terrifying storm
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…
