Champi slams Guam after rapidly intensifying into violent typhoon, bringing life-threatening conditions
THE TAKEAWAY
Champi has rapidly intensified into a violent super typhoon with sustained winds of 150 mph and is bearing down on Guam, barely avoiding a direct hit.
The storm is expected to bring intense, damaging wind gusts, torrential rain and flooding during its closest approach on Sunday.
LATEST FROM FOX WEATHER HURRICANE SPECIALIST BRYAN NORCROSS
The National Weather Service (NWS) office in Guam has issued an Extreme Wind Warning for far southern Guam for catastrophic, life-threatening winds between 115 and 135 mph.
"Venturing outside can result in death from flying projectiles," the NWS office warned.
Champi passed by the southern tip of Guam nearly 10 miles away, bringing violent winds and tropical-storm to typhoon-force gusts across the island.
Typhoon Warnings are in effect for Guam and Rota, while Tropical Storm Warnings cover Tinian and Saipan in the Northern Mariana Islands.
On Saturday, Guam Governor Lou Leon Guerrero advised people headed to shelters to pack a 7-day supply of food and water.
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U.S. military facilities across Guam and the Mariana Islands, including Andersen Air Force Base, are under a Tropical Cyclone Condition of Readiness 1, meaning that tropical-storm-force-winds or stronger are expected.
A Guam landfall is quite rare due to the small size of the island.
Champi could strengthen into one of the strongest storms in any basin this year.
Amid the warm waters in the Pacific and the rapidly strengthening El Niño, the Mariana Islands have been in the path of four other tropical systems, including Typhoon Sinlaku, which went on to become the strongest storm in any basin this year with peak winds of 185 mph.
Meanwhile, Hurricane Trudy is a Category 2 storm with 105 mph wind gusts, about 150 miles south of Manzanillo, Mexico.
Trudy was briefly classified as a Category 3 hurricane Friday, but satellite data showed it was weaker than initially expected, the NHC said.
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Trudy is forecast to pass close to or even clip part of the Mexican coast sometime this weekend, and Hurricane Watches and Warnings are in effect across the region.
Conditions are expected to become less favorable by the afternoon, as southwesterly wind shear and dry air is expected to help weaken the system.
The system is expected to become post-tropical within the next few days.
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The 2026 Eastern Pacific hurricane season has officially surpassed 2018 as the most energetic season on record, with over 319 ACE units. ACE measures the combined strength and duration of tropical storms and hurricanes during a season.
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