Violent Typhoon Champi slamming Guam after rapidly intensifying as El Niño enhances Pacific
THE TAKEAWAY
Champi has rapidly intensified into a violent Typhoon with sustained winds of 140 mph and is bearing down on Guam, where it has made a direct hit.
The storm is expected to bring intense, damaging wind gusts, torrential rain and flooding during its closest approach early Sunday local time.
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 is currently about 55 miles southeast of Guam and is forecast to track just south of the island.
However, even a small shift in its path could bring the strongest part of the storm directly across southern Guam, the FOX Forecast Center said.
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 within the next 12 hours.
A Guam landfall is quite rare due to the small size of the island.
"From there the typhoon will continue to intensify," the FOX Forecast Center said, with winds currently expected to peak at 155 mph.
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 remains a Category 1 storm, about 140 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.
'HISTORIC' EL NIÑO INCREASINGLY LIKELY, WITH 83% CHANCE OF BECOMING THE STRONGEST ON RECORD
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.
WHAT IS ACCUMULATED CYCLONE ENERGY (ACE)?
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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