The strongest storm of 2018 is swirling in the Indian Ocean
The year's first Category 5 storm has formed in the Indian Ocean, off the northwest coast of Australia.
Cyclone Marcus, which blew through the Australian city of Darwin as the equivalent of a strong tropical storm on March 17, intensified to a Category 5 storm with maximum sustained winds of 160 miles per hour on Wednesday.
The storm is forecast to gradually turn to the southwest, then south, and then southeast toward Perth. At the same time, it is predicted to steadily weaken to the equivalent of a tropical storm by this weekend, posing little threat to the continent.
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In other words, it is what some meteorologists would call a "fish storm," since it's mostly churning the ocean waters.
Category 5 storms are the fiercest and most destructive tempests on the planet.
Typically, Earth only gives rise to between 4 and 5 of them per year, but some years see considerably more than others.
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Winter in the Northern Hemisphere is tropical cyclone season for Australia, so it's not unusual to have such a powerful storm form this early in the year. The prime time for the fiercest storms on Earth -- super typhoons in the Northwest Pacific Ocean -- won't begin until about May, running through October.
Hurricanes, cyclones, and typhoons are all the same types of storms, just referred to differently based upon where they occur.
Andrew Freedman is Mashable's Senior Editor for Science and Special Projects. Prior to working at Mashable, Freedman was a Senior Science writer for Climate Central. He has also worked as a reporter for Congressional Quarterly and Greenwire/E&E Daily. His writing has also appeared in the Washington Post, online at The Weather Channel, and washingtonpost.com, where he wrote a weekly climate science column for the "Capital Weather Gang" blog. He has provided commentary on climate science and policy for Sky News, CBC Radio, NPR, Al Jazeera, Sirius XM Radio, PBS NewsHour, and other national and international outlets. He holds a Masters in Climate and Society from Columbia University, and a Masters in Law and Diplomacy from The Fletcher School at Tufts University.
