Super Typhoon Vongfong has been declared the world’s strongest cyclone of 2014, with maximum sustained winds estimated at 180 miles per hour, the equivalent of a Category 5 hurricane, The Weather Channel reported Tuesday afternoon.
“It’s safe to say Vongfong is the strongest storm on earth since Haiyan last year,” said Weather Channel storm specialist Michael Lowry. With maximum sustained winds estimated at 195 mph, Super Typhoon Haiyan killed more than 6,000 people in The Philippines last year. Vongfong “is expected to weaken once it begins moving north this week, but should still be a formidable typhoon as it draws close to Japan this weekend into early next week,” Erdman and Wiltgen write.
