Typhoon Jangmi — designated Typhoon No. 6 by Japanese authorities — is bearing down on Japan's southernmost islands, bringing severe winds, heavy rain and the threat of flooding, as two other major weather events simultaneously grip Australia and southern Europe.
The storm, which formed within a monsoonal gyre over the Philippine Sea, was tracking near Okinawa on Monday before moving northeast toward the Amami region on Tuesday and the coastal Kanto region — which includes Tokyo — by Wednesday. A monsoonal gyre is a large, slow-rotating weather system capable of spawning powerful typhoons through smaller vortices within it; storms of this type often lack a distinct eye but generate broad, extensive wind fields. By early Monday, Jangmi was moving at around 16 km/h with sustained winds of roughly 108 km/h, gusts reaching 160 km/h and a central pressure of 975 hPa. The Japan Meteorological Agency warned that pressure could drop further to 965 hPa as the storm intensifies. Authorities have raised high alerts for landslides, storm surges and high waves across the Okinawa Islands, the Sakishima Islands and the Daitō Islands. Elderly residents and others requiring extra time have been urged to evacuate, and more than 400 flights — mainly operated by All Nippon Airways — have been cancelled in and out of Okinawa. On Wednesday, linear precipitation bands — intense, stationary rainfall systems capable of causing rapid and severe flooding — are forecast across Kyushu, Shikoku, Kinki and the Tokai region as the storm pushes further north. Japan experienced 27 typhoons in 2025, above the annual average of 25.
On the other side of the world, southern Australia is facing its own severe weather. A 980 hPa low-pressure system that brought damaging storms to Western Australia last week is sweeping eastward toward the densely populated state of Victoria. Gusts of up to 130 km/h have already lashed the western coast, with similar wind speeds expected midweek in Victoria's coastal areas. Snow is also possible in Kosciuszko National Park, the highest mountain range on the Australian mainland, on Monday afternoon.
Meanwhile, a stark contrast is unfolding in Spain, where temperatures are climbing to the high 30s Celsius across southern Iberia, with some areas reaching 40C. Although these figures might not appear extraordinary for early June, they are running 5–10C above long-term averages, driven by persistent high pressure anchored over southern Europe.
Taken together, the three events underscore the global reach of extreme weather patterns in the early summer of 2026. For Japan in particular, Typhoon Jangmi serves as an early and forceful reminder of an already-active Pacific storm season.