Bopha to a severe tropical storm. A few hours later, the JTWC upgraded the storm to a typhoon, and the JMA followed suit at 18:00 UTC that day. At that time, Bopha was located about 980 km (610 mi) east-southeast of Palau.

As the system continued to intensify, organized bands of thunderstorms began to develop rapidly around the system, mostly on the western half of the storm. They later merged with Bopha, which led to the system's increase in size. Several