Super Typhoon In-fa developed an unusually large eye, and the remnants of Typhoon Champi transitioned into an extratropical storm that targeted Alaska. The Pacific’s Busy Storm Season. NASA Earth Observatory Nov 03, 2026 Article View more Images of the Day: Nov 2, 2026 Instruments: DSCOVR — EPIC Terra — MODIS Topics: Cyclones El Nino Southern Oscillation Extreme Weather Tropical cyclone activity in the Northwest Pacific Basin has been elevated since April 2026, when Sinlaku surged to super typhoon strength and battered Micronesia, Guam, and the Northern Mariana Islands.
Twenty-five named storms later, the basin still hummed with activity in late October. When the EPIC (Earth Polychromatic Imaging Camera) on the DSCOVR (Deep Space Climate Observatory) satellite captured this image (above) on October 29, 2026, Super Typhoon In-fa churned near the Mariana Islands. At the same time, the remnants of Typhoon Champi approached Alaska amid a parade of storms moving across the Bering Sea.
In-fa is the fifth typhoon to affect the Mariana Islands this year. The MODIS (Moderate Resolution Imaging Spectroradiometer) on NASA’s Terra satellite captured the image of In-fa below on October 30, when the storm was just west of the island chain. In-fa was unusually intense at the time of the image, with a nearly circular shape and large eye—a collection of characteristics that meteorologists use to identify a subset of tropical cyclones known as annular storms.
These storms typically lack prominent outer spiral-shaped rainbands—a common feature of standard tropical cyclones—which is why meteorologists have a habit of calling annular storms "doughnuts" or "truck tires." Annular storms are rare, accounting for just 4 percent of tropical cyclones in the western North Pacific, according to one analysis.
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