Super Typhoon Mawar heads toward Guam: The island's strongest storm in 20 years

The U.S. territory of Guam in the western Pacific is bracing for impact as super typhoon Mawar is set to impact the island Tuesday night into Wednesday morning local time. Guam is the largest and southernmost of the Mariana Islands and is 1,571 east of the Philippines.

What may be the strongest typhoon in decades to hit Guam is nearing the island. The WeatherRadar shows bands of rain lashing Guam and the Mariana Islands Tuesday night, with the center of the storm approaching near Guam or Rota Island Wednesday.

Mawar is currently a super typhoon with maximum winds of 155 mph. Mawar has reached Category 4 strength on the Saffir-Simpson scale. Residents of Guam are being told to seek shelter in reinforced concrete structures and to finish preparing for this storm as soon as possible.

This powerful super typhoon will bring life-threatening storm surge of 6 to 10 feet, with some areas experiencing up to 15 feet of surge. Destructive winds over 100 mph are anticipated over Guam on Wednesday. Torrential downpours are also in play as Mawar moves through, with up to 20 inches possible, enough to trigger dangerous flash flooding and landslides.

M​awar may be the strongest typhoon to pass close to Guam since Super Typhoon Pongsona's center passed just east of Guam, hammering the island with maximum wind gusts of 173 mph in December 2002.

Conditions will improve for Guam and the Mariana Islands by Thursday as Mawar curls to the northwest. The storm may pose a threat to the northern Philippines, Taiwan and Japan next week.

The Atlantic hurricane season officially starts on June 1st, but Weather & Radar's expert meteorologists are already keeping an eye on the tropics. Get the latest update here.