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Storm Yagi, one of the world’s strongest storms this year, made landfall in China’s Hainan island on Friday, drenching its southern coast.

Hundreds of thousands of people were evacuated in Hainan, schools were shut, trading was halted and flights cancelled in Hong Kong and Macau with the super typhoon bringing high winds and rain to the region, having already left a trail of devastation in the Philippines.

The storm’s windspeeds reached 245kmph, making Yagi the second-most powerful tropical cyclone anywhere in the world for 2024.

The storm highlights a growing trend of more powerful storms hitting East and Southeast Asia, driven by rising ocean temperatures. Warmer waters are intensifying typhoons, making them more frequent and destructive.

Scientists link these stronger storms to climate crisis, with warmer seas fueling faster intensification.

Here are a few commonly used weather terms and their definitions, which rely on material from the National Weather Service: