File:Tropical Cyclone Wutip off Guam (MODIS 2019-02-26).jpg

English: Tropical Cyclone Wutip strengthened into a super typhoon on February 25, 2019, according to the Joint Typhoon Warning Center (JTWC). The Moderate Resolution Imaging Spectroradiometer (MODIS) on board NASA’s Terra satellite acquired a true-color image of the storm on that same day. At the time of the image, bands of powerful thunderstorms wrapped into Wutip’s clear, symmetric eye. The large eye measured about about 28.7 miles (46 km) wide.

At 10:00 a.m. EDT (1500 UTC) on February 25, Tropical Cyclone Wutip’s maximum sustained winds were near 161 mph (259 km/h), bringing it to the equivalent of a Category 5 storm on the Saffir-Simpson Hurricane Wind Scale. Wutip’s center was located near 14.0 degrees north latitude and 140.1 east longitude, that’s approximately 273 miles (439 km) north of Ulithi. Ulithi is an atoll in the Caroline Islands roughly 420 mi (679 km) southwest of Guam.

The JTWC noted that gradual weakening is expected due to an imminent eyewall replacement cycle. Additional significant weakening is expected by February 27 as the storm moves west into increasing vertical wind shear and cooler sea surface temperatures.