The cyclone's 1-minute winds increased once again to 140 km/h, marking its second and final peak at 0000 UTC on November 18.[1] The JMA, however, maintained Nepartak as a severe tropical storm.[2] The JTWC indicated that 25W made a second landfall on the coast of Hainan,[3] although the JMA did not make such mention, implying Nepartak's center remained over the Gulf of Tonkin.[5] Regardless, the cyclone's circulation had obscured most of Hainan and the Gulf of Tonkin and reached into adjacent Vietnam, and its forward speed slowed to a crawl.