A typhoon is a massive, violent storm with extremely powerful rotating winds and heavy rain that forms over the warm waters of the western Pacific Ocean. Typhoons are the same type of storm as hurricanes, just in a different part of the world. Scientists call them all tropical cyclones, but people in Asia and the Pacific islands call them typhoons, while people in the Atlantic Ocean and eastern Pacific call them hurricanes.

These storms can be hundreds of miles wide, with winds spinning around a calm center called the eye. The strongest typhoons have winds exceeding 150 miles per hour, powerful enough to tear roofs off buildings, uproot massive trees, and push walls of seawater called storm surges onto coastal areas. Typhoon winds rotate counterclockwise in the Northern Hemisphere, creating a distinctive spiral pattern visible from space.

Typhoons have affected human history throughout Asia for thousands of years. In 1274 and 1281, typhoons destroyed Mongol invasion fleets heading toward Japan, storms the Japanese called kamikaze (divine wind). Today, meteorologists track typhoons carefully using satellites and computer models, giving people advance warning so they can evacuate dangerous areas or prepare their homes. Countries that regularly experience typhoons, like the Philippines, Taiwan, and Japan, have developed specialized building codes and emergency procedures to protect people from these ferocious storms.