Guys,I have a question.

[WALL-E]

Hello,everybody,nice to meet you.
I'm a Chinese.
The Chinese government told us that megi is the most powerful tropical cyclone in the past 20 years.
Is that true

[RL3AO]

Yes, its true officially. There was a recon plane that flew into Megi doing research so it found its true strength. Had this research plane not flown into Megi, it probably would have been underestimated. Its likely there have been stronger storms (or at least as strong) over the past 20 years, but since the US Air Force stopped flying into Pacific storms in the 80's, the strong storm of the 90's and 00's have likely been underestimated.

[WALL-E]

But,as I know,There are a few typhoons may stronger than Megi.
Such as, Nida, Cimaron, Dianmu, because they looks more stronger than Megi in satellite images.

[Aslkahuna]

That may be possible, however, there are no in-situ observations from those storms so their true intensity remains unknown. Therefore, Megi is the strongest KNOWN storm of the past 20 years.

Steve

[WALL-E]

Oh,thank you.
Now,I know the importance of reconnaissance.