In early July 2026, for the second time in three months, a powerful typhoon crossed the U.S. Northern Mariana Islands and Guam in the North Pacific Ocean. Super Typhoon Bavi was at peak intensity when it neared the islands on the night of July 5, bringing winds of 290 kilometers (180 miles) per hour, along with torrential rain and dangerous storm surge.
This nighttime image, captured by the VIIRS (Visible Infrared Imaging Radiometer Suite) on the NOAA-20 satellite, shows Bavi’s eye at about 15:30 Universal Time on July 5 (1:30 a.m. local time on July 6). Light from the Moon, which was in the waning gibbous phase, illuminates the eyewall’s western side. The eye passed over Rota, north of Guam, several hours after the image was acquired.
Bavi became a super typhoon in the early hours of July 4 local time while tracking west over the warm ocean. Satellite observations indicated that sea surface temperatures were around 30 degrees Celsius (86 degrees Fahrenheit) in the region. Bavi was the third tropical cyclone in 2026 to reach category 5 intensity on the Saffir-Simpson wind scale.
The typhoon caused extensive damage across Guam, Rota, and Saipan, according to news reports, downing power poles and lines; flooding roads and littering them with debris; and damaging buildings, including a water distribution station on Rota. U.S. Coast Guard crews worked to clear navigation hazards in the waterways around Guam and the Northern Marianas and reopen ports as dangerous marine conditions subsided, according to reports. This damage comes on top of destructive winds and flooding from Super Typhoon Sinlaku, which crossed the islands in mid-April.
On July 8, Bavi remained a powerful typhoon as it moved west over the Philippine Sea. In the early afternoon, when the image above was captured, the National Weather Service reported maximum sustained wind spee …