As the nearby storm Saomai crossed the threshold to typhoon status, a tropical depression formed in the same general area, reaching storm status on August 7, at which point it was named Bopha. As of August 9, Bopha and Saomai were both heading roughly west, with Bopha projected to pass directly over Taiwan, while Saomai was projected to pass north of the island before making landfall on the Asian mainland.

This photo-like image was acquired by the Moderate Resolution Imaging Spectroradiometer (MODIS) on the Terra satellite on August 9, 2006, at 10:05 a.m. local time (02:05 UTC). Bopha had developed a strong cyclonic shape, and although the storm system does not have a well-developed eye, the “boiling” clouds around the center suggest thunderstorm activity. At the time of this image, Bopha had sustained peak winds of roughly 82 kilometers per hour (52 miles per hour) according to the University of Hawaii’s Tropical Storm Information Center.