After becoming a tropical storm, Mike tracked west-northwest under the influence of a subtropical ridge. The JTWC initially forecast Mike to track northwest over the Philippine Sea. Later in the morning hours of November 8, the JMA classified Mike as a severe tropical storm. Shortly thereafter, Mike entered a period of rapid deepening, aided by two dual outflow channels and a trough to the northeast. Due to the formation of an eye, the JTWC declared Mike a typhoon at 00:00 UTC on November 9, with the JMA following suit six hours later. Midday on November 10, Dvorak intensity estimates reached T7.0/ and satellite imagery indicated a diameter eye and good upper-level outflow. Based on this, the JTWC raised the intensity of Mike to , making Mike a super typhoon. At 18:00 UTC, the JTWC increased the winds to , marking a increase in wind speed, or a barometric pressure drop of in a two-day time period. Early on November 11, the JMA estimated that Mike attained its peak intensity, with winds of and a minimum pressure of . However, Dvorak numbers held at 8.0 for quite a long time, meaning that Mike may have been even stronger than listed.