The Typhoon Hagibis, which has become a powerful Super Typhoon as expected, crossed the Mariana Islands last night. The eye of the cyclone passed near the volcanic and uninhabited island of Anathan at 15 UTC. The island probably experienced violent and extreme hurricane conditions. The island of Saipan, which had suffered badly from the violent Typhoon Yutu last year, remained outside of the dangerous core of the cyclone.
Hagibis has reached an intensity of 140 kt yesterday between 12 UTC and 18 UTC according to the JTWC, the equivalent of a hurricane category 5 on the Saffir-Simpson scale. But, it weakened slightly in the last hours due to a classic eyewall replacement (ERC). This phenomenon which concerns intense cyclones, is characterized by the erosion of the intiail eyewall, replaced by a new. During this process, the cyclone weakens or ceases in intensity, before a new intensification phase when the ERC is completed.