It’s not often that the classification “Super Typhoon”—the equivalent of a strong Category 4 or 5 Hurricane, like Katrina or Andrew—fails to convey the intensity of a tropical cyclone. But “Haiyan,” a Super Typhoon about to make landfall over the Philippines, is no ordinary Super Typhoon. Haiyan makes Katrina look like a run-of-the-mill storm. It may be the most intense tropical storm in recorded history. But there’s a catch: We may never know for sure.

The most reliable measurements of tropical cyclone intensity come from Hurricane Hunter aircraft, which fly directly into the eye of the storm, measuring flight-level wind-speeds along the way, and then drop a “dropsonde,” or instrument package down to the surface to measure the air pressure at the surface. By the latter measure, Super Typhoon Tip is the most intense tropical cyclone on record, with a pressure of just 870 millabars. For comparison, the average pressure is about 1013mb—Hurricane Katrina peaked at 902mb.

Unfortunately, there aren’t air reconnaissance missions into Typhoons in the Western Pacific. Instead, intensity is estimated based on satellite imagery using the “Dvorak Technique.” It might sound a little strange to judge the strength of a tropical cyclone by appearance, but the Dvorak Technique actually works pretty well well. You really can judge a Hurricane by its cover.

So how strong is Haiyan? Based on satellite imagery, the Joint Typhoon Warning Center estimates that Haiyan is... perfect, therefore possessing maximum sustained winds of 195 mph. Those maximum sustained winds are 20 mph faster than Hurricane Katrina at its peak, 5 mph faster than any previous storm. Based on the satellite images, Haiyan may be the strongest in the satellite era.

I’ve been watching hurricanes and typhoons for 18 years, and I’ve never seen anything like Haiyan (with the possible exception of Super Typhoon Angela, but, that was 18 years ago and I don’t remember it well.) It makes Hurricane Katrina look like a typical storm.