Featured Image Credit: Roberto Machado Noa via Getty
It could be time to batten down the hatches as the potentially deadly Typhoon Halong is set to cause trouble in the United States.
In a year that’s seen the USA battle Los Angeles wildfires, floods in Alaska, rare supercell thunderstorms, and tsunami warnings thanks to earthquakes in the Pacific Ocean, it's hard to see how the climate change deniers really have a leg to stand on.
Even Bulgarian mystic Baba Vanga warned us to brace for more extreme weather in 2026, but in our more immediate future, Typhoon Halong could be about to send shockwaves through the USA.
After skirting past Japan, the super typhoon is now on track to cause a butterfly effect of extreme weather across the US as it enters the North Pacific. The ocean's fast-moving jet stream is poised to absorb Halong's energy and trigger more intense storms along the storm track.
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Numerous locations are told to ready themselves for the aftereffects of Typhoon Halong, with forecasts suggesting the power of the super typhoon could cause hurricane-force winds in Alaska's Bering Sea.
This phenomenon is caused by 'recurving typhoons', which toss powerful effects across the sea. The National Weather Service (NWS) confirms that the weekend commencing October 10 could remind us of when Typhoon Merbok ravaged the west of Alaska in 2022. With Merbok causing millions of dollars of damage, these warnings aren't to be taken lightly.
It's not just Alaskans who should be preparing for the worst, as Halong's overspill is tipped to push a high-pressure system into Canada, also forcing subarctic air down into Washington, Oregon, and California.
That's not even all of it, and if a coastal storm collides with the cold air, Northern California might be hit with massive rainfall and several feet of snow in the Sierra Nevada.
The San Francisco Chronicle reiterates that while Halong spared Tokyo from forces akin to a Category 4 hurricane and isn't likely to make landfall in the USA, it's hard to predict what happens next.
Recurving typhoons typically degrade the precision of modern weather models, with the outlet explaining: "Determining exactly where and when depends on the position of the dip in the storm track. If the storm drops toward the coast, the biggest rainstorm since last winter is possible in the Bay Area starting Monday.
"If it stays to the east, the Bay Area will be drier, but Lake Tahoe could end up snowier."
Already active weather patterns are expected to worsen thanks to Halong's effects, with history teaching us that recurving typhoons shouldn't be underestimated. September 2020 saw a wildfire outbreak from Washington state to California due to dry winds, while a rare August 2024 storm dumped snow in the Sierra.
If that wasn't enough for residents to contend with, the downgraded former Hurricane Priscilla is also forecast to strike as a tropical depression in Baja California this same weekend.
Hurricanes and typhoons share similarities as they're both powerful tropical cyclones with winds of 119 km/h or greater.
The difference is that typhoons develop in the Pacific Ocean, whereas hurricanes form in the North Atlantic Ocean, the Northeast Pacific Ocean, or the Central Pacific Ocean.
