The 2026 Pacific typhoon season is an ongoing event that began unusually early, with Tropical Storm Nokaen forming on January 15—the earliest named storm start since 2019. The season quickly produced powerful systems, including Typhoon Sinlaku (the first super typhoon on April 12) and Typhoon Bavi, which struck the Northern Mariana Islands in July as one of the strongest typhoons on record for the region. Notably, Tropical Storm Maysak triggered catastrophic flooding in southern China, resulting in 171 fatalities, with 159 deaths concentrated in Guangxi alone. Later, Typhoon Dolphin reached super typhoon status on July 29, hit the Okinawa Islands on August 7, and made landfall in China’s Zhejiang province on August 9 near Wenzhou. The season is tracked jointly by the Japan Meteorological Agency (JMA), PAGASA in the Philippines, and the U.S. Joint Typhoon Warning Center, meaning storms often receive multiple names depending on their location. Forecasts initially predicted a return to neutral El Niño–Southern Oscillation (ENSO) conditions from a weak La Niña, influencing the year's tropical cyclone activity.