Taiwan Halts Stock Trading and Closes Schools as 157-kph Typhoon Bavi Nears

Q: Is this year's third Category 5 super typhoon a freak of nature or a preview of our climate's future?

It is better understood as a warning sign of the climate we are moving into, not just a freak event. Typhoon Bavi was shaped by both short-term weather patterns and long-term warming. This year’s strong El Niño is helping create conditions in the western Pacific that favor powerful typhoons: storms form farther east, spend more time over open water, and can intensify before curving back toward Asia. Meteorologists say Bavi’s explosive strengthening was aided by exceptionally warm seas near 30°C and very low wind shear. But the broader science points beyond natural variability alone. Research and observational records since 1982 show a statistically significant rise in the share of the strongest tropical cyclones reaching Category 4 and 5 intensity. Climate assessments have also found that warmer oceans increase the energy available to storms and make rapid intensification more likely. Bavi’s jump to Category 5-equivalent strength in less than 48 hours fits that pattern. That does not mean every extreme typhoon is “caused” by climate change, or that total storm numbers always rise. The clearer signal is that when storms do form, a larger share can become very intense, dump heavier rain, and strengthen faster. So Bavi is both an El Niño-era storm and part of a larger trend. Taiwan’s school closures, market suspension, and wide disaster mobilization reflect a growing reality for coastal Asia: extreme typhoons are becoming a more credible recurring risk, not an isolated anomaly.

3 articles · Updated · Bloomberg · Jul 10

Taiwan suspended stock exchange trading and shut schools Friday as Typhoon Bavi approached, with authorities bracing for heavy rain across a wide swath of the island.
Bavi was 713 kilometers south of Okinawa and moving steadily northwest toward China’s east coast, according to the US Joint Typhoon Warning Center.
The storm was carrying top sustained winds of 157 kilometers per hour—equivalent to a Category 2 hurricane—raising the risk of broad disruption before it reaches China.