Guam braces for Super Typhoon Mawar

NEW ORLEANS (WVUE) - Typhoon Mawar continues to churn in the eastern Pacific Wednesday local time and is positioned to make a direct hit on Guam. The outer bands of the storm are already impacting the island as of early Wednesday morning.

The storm became a super typhoon late Tuesday night ChST with maximum sustained winds of 135 knots - equivalent to 155 mph.

Mawar is set to continue its northwestern path, potentially making a direct hit on Guam by Wednesday afternoon. The Joint Typhoon Warning Center forecast track predicts further strengthening to 140-knot sustained winds (160 miles per hour) as the storm approaches the island. This would make the super typhoon equivalent to a Category 5 hurricane.

Guam and Rota are currently under a typhoon warning in effect until 5:45 AM ChST Wednesday. Guam is expected to see the brunt of the impacts from Mawar. A tropical storm warning is in effect for Saipan and Tinian, alongside a typhoon watch. Typhoon conditions may be possible if Mawar makes a more northward turn on its approach to the islands. These areas are also under coastal flood warnings and flood watches as the outer rain bands enter the region.

Mawar is the strongest typhoon to impact the western North Pacific in May since Dolphin in 2015.

The northwest Pacific can see typhoons year round, but the highest incidence of tropical cyclone formation falls between July 1 and December 15.

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