Typhoon Goni (2020) facts for kids

Typhoon Goni, known in the Philippines as Super Typhoon Rolly, is a weak tropical cyclone that recently made landfall as an extremely powerful Category 5–super typhoon on Catanduanes Island in the Philippines and became the strongest landfalling tropical cyclone on record.

The 19th named storm, ninth typhoon, and second super typhoon of the 2020 Pacific typhoon season, Goni started as a tropical depression southwest of Guam on October 26. It was then named as Tropical Storm Goni on October 27.

Goni maintained Category 5 strength for over a day, before making landfall on Catanduanes as an extremely powerful typhoon, with 10-minute sustained winds of 220 km/h (140 mph), 1-minute sustained winds of 315 km/h (195 mph), and a minimum central pressure of 905 hPa (mbar; 26.72 inHg).

It is the strongest tropical cyclone observed worldwide thus far in 2020 and one of the most intense tropical cyclones on record.

Images for kids

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  Three tropical cyclones present in the western Pacific Ocean simultaneously on October 28. From left to right: Molave, Goni, and a low-pressure area which later became Atsani (at bottom-right).

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  Typhoon Goni near its initial peak intensity and over the Philippine Sea on October 30, 2020, showing a very clear pinhole eye.

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  Highest TCWS raised by PAGASA across the Philippines in advance of Typhoon Goni

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  Satellite animation of Typhoon Goni making landfall on Catanduanes Island on October 31