On February 23, the storm was packing 1-minute sustained winds of 193 km/h (120 mph), making it a Category typhoon, while also generating wave heights up to 12.5 m (41 ft), with wind gusts reaching 240 km/h (150 mph). Later that day, Wutip reached its initial peak intensity, with 10-minute sustained winds of 185 km/h (115 mph), 1-minute sustained winds of 250 km/h (155 mph), and a minimum central pressure of 925 millibars (27.3 inHg), making the storm a high-end Category 4-equivalent super typhoon as it passed to the southwest of Guam. This also allowed Wutip to surpass Typhoon Higos from 2015 as the strongest February typhoon on record.