NASA - National Aeronautics and Space Administration

Tropical Storm Chanchu formed in the western Pacific on May 8, 2006, roughly 500 miles east of the Philippines. The storm reached typhoon status as it continued westward across the South China Sea. This image from May 16 at 5:40 UTC, is from the Moderate Resolution Imaging Spectroradiometer (MODIS) on NASA's Terra satellite. Sustained winds in the storm system were estimated to be around 200 kilometers per hour (125 miles per hour) around the time the image was captured, according to the University of Hawaii's Tropical Storm Information Center. Credit: NASA/MODIS Rapid Response Team









Monday, May 15, 2006 marks the beginning of the Eastern North Pacific Hurricane Season which will run through November 30th. Although the 2006 Pacific typhoon season has no official bounds, most tropical cyclones tend to form in the northwestern and northeastern Pacific Ocean between June and December.

Tropical Storm Chanchu formed in the western Pacific on May 8, 2006, roughly 500 miles east of the Philippines. The storm has been gradually building strength and size, and was upgraded to typhoon status late on May 10 as seen in this NASA Satellite image from the SeaWiFS instrument Credit: NASA