Typhoon Champi reached sustained winds of 185 mph on Tuesday, tying Super Typhoon Sinlaku as the strongest storm in any basin this year. It passed just 10 miles off Guam's southern tip and moved on without a destructive landfall.
Guam Governor Lou Leon Guerrero said there was minimal damage on the island after the storm swept through Guam over the weekend with the equivalent of a Category 4 storm and gusts as strong as 150 mph. For residents who watched Champi in the Western Pacific and rode out those winds, the difference between a near-miss and a direct hit showed up in what was left standing.
On Tuesday, Champi was still strengthening in the Western Pacific, and the forecast called for maximum sustained winds of 165 mph by Wednesday before the system gradually weakens as it approaches southern Japan. That keeps the storm in the strongest range measured this year, even after Guam sat close enough to feel its edge. Typhoon Champi regains level 16 as Taiwan forecast diverges
Guam after the closest pass
Champi moved west of the southern Mariana Islands after crossing near Guam, and the island's account of the impact stayed limited to damage that Leon Guerrero described as minimal. The storm's path matters because it brought major wind strength close to Guam without the destructive landfall that often defines the worst outcomes for an island community.
Invest 94E and Vance
A separate system, Invest 94E, was expected to develop into at least a tropical depression over the next two days while sitting several hundred miles south of southern Mexico. If the system organizes into a named storm, it would become Tropical Storm Vance, the first V-named storm in the eastern Pacific since 2018.
The Eastern Pacific waters remained extremely warm because of the rapidly strengthening El Niño pattern, and forecast models suggested the system could initially move northwest before turning back toward Mexico. FOX Forecast Center said a strong Tehuantepecer wind event along southern Mexico could help concentrate moisture and encourage a disturbance to organize into a tropical depression or storm.
For Guam, the immediate damage report is already in. For southern Japan, the next problem is how much Champi weakens before it arrives, because the storm has already shown it can hold extreme intensity while skirting land rather than slamming directly into it.
