2009 Pacific typhoon season


The 2009 Pacific typhoon season was a below average season that spawned only 22 named storms, 13 typhoons, and five super typhoons. Despite this, it was a very deadly season, with the Philippines having experienced its deadliest season in decades due to the impact of typhoons Ketsana and Parma, while typhoon Morakot went on to become the deadliest storm to impact Taiwan in its modern history. The first half of the season was very quiet, whereas the second half of the season was extremely active. The season ran throughout 2009, though most tropical cyclone tend to develop between May and November. The season's first named storm, Kujira, developed on May 3, while the season's last named storm, Nida, dissipated on December 3.
During August, Typhoon Morakot devastated Taiwan, killing nearly 800 people and being known for being the deadliest typhoon to impact the country. Typhoons Ketsana and Parma both affected the Philippines, bringing extreme flooding that killed more than 1400 people in total. Typhoon Nida during late November reached 1-minute winds of, which is the most intense in the basin since Typhoon Paka in 1997.
The scope of this article is limited to the Pacific Ocean to the north of the equator between 100°E and 180th meridian. Within the northwestern Pacific Ocean, there are two separate agencies that assign names to tropical cyclones which can often result in a cyclone having two names. The Japan Meteorological Agency will name a tropical cyclone should it be judged to have 10-minute sustained wind speeds of at least anywhere in the basin, whilst the Philippine Atmospheric, Geophysical and Astronomical Services Administration assigns names to tropical cyclones which move into or form as a tropical depression in their area of responsibility located between 135°E and 115°E and between 5°N–25°N regardless of whether or not a tropical cyclone has already been given a name by the JMA. Tropical depressions that are monitored by the United States' Joint Typhoon Warning Center are given a number with a "W" suffix.

Seasonal forecasts

During each season, several national meteorological services and scientific agencies forecast how many tropical cyclones, tropical storms, and typhoons will form during a season and/or how many tropical cyclones will affect a particular country. These agencies include the Tropical Storm Risk Consortium of the University College London, Guy Carpenter Asia-Pacific Climate Impact Centre of the City University of Hong Kong and Taiwan's Central Weather Bureau.
On January 4, PAGASA reported that they were expecting 19 or less tropical cyclones to affect the Philippines during 2009. During March, the TSR Consortium released their first forecast of the season and predicted that activity within the basin would be about 20% below normal with 25.6 tropical storms, 16 typhoons and 6.7 intense typhoons and an ACE index of around 247. Later that month the Hong Kong Observatory, predicted that the typhoon season in Hong Kong would be near normal with five to six tropical cyclones passing within of the territory compared to an average of 6. During April, the GCACIC issued its first seasonal forecast for the year and predicted that the season would see activity near its average with 31 tropical cyclones, 27 tropical storms, and 18 typhoons occurring during the season. The GCACIC also predicted that 4 tropical cyclones would make landfall on Southern China between April and August compared to an average of 3, they also predicted that no tropical cyclones would make landfall between August and December. On May 7, TSR increased its forecast to 27.5 tropical storms, 17.6 typhoons, 9.1 "intense" typhoons and an ACE index of about 311 units, after La Niña conditions weakened and confidence grew that La Niña conditions would not return during 2009. Later that month the Vietnamese National Center for Hydro Meteorological forecasts predicted that six or more tropical cyclones would affect Vietnam during 2009.
During June, the GCACIC reported that the total number of tropical cyclones had decreased from 31 to 30, and that the total number of typhoons had increased to 19, while there was no change to the number of tropical storms predicted to occur during the season. They also predicted that 3 tropical cyclones would make landfall on Southern China between July and December compared to an average of 4. On June 30, the Taiwan Central Weather Bureau predicted that the season would see activity near its average of 26.6, and predicted that between 24 – 27 tropical storms would occur over the Western Pacific. The Central Weather Bureau also predicted that of the 24-27 tropical storms forecast 3-5 of them would affect Taiwan. In their July and August forecasts TSR upped their prediction for the amount of intense typhoons by one to ten and eleven respectively, whilst predicting the same amount of tropical storms and typhoons. In July and August they also predicted that the season would now see activity about 20% above normal. After their initial prediction was surpassed by Tropical Depression Tino forming, PAGASA announced that they expecting two or three more cyclones to affect the Philippines, before the end of the year.

Season summary



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The season started with Tropical Depression Auring east of the Philippines, which was then followed by Tropical Depression Bising a month later. After 2 months of inactivity, Tropical Depression Crising and Typhoon Kujira forms, and Kujira becoming the first major typhoon of the season, and was followed by the development of Typhoon Chan-hom in the South China Sea, and hit Pangasinan and crossed the Philippines. In mid-June, Severe Tropical Storm Linfa and Tropical Storm Nangka form and hit the Philippines.
It was followed 1 month later by Tropical Storm Soudelor, which passed through the Batanes Strait and headed for China, and followed by Tropical Depression Huaning which hit Taiwan. Typhoon Molave and Tropical Storm Goni head for China, while Typhoon Morakot becomes the most-costliest storm in Taiwanese history. Tropical Storm Etau briefly forms, and followed by Tropical Depression Maka from the Central Pacific basin, while Typhoon Vamco develops into a Category 4 but barely affects any major landmass. Krovanh peaks as a severe tropical storm, while Dujuan heads northeastward, and not affecting any landmass. Tropical Storm Mujigae forms in the South China Sea, which is followed by Typhoon Koppu, which crossed Northern Luzon. Typhoon Ketsana drops record rainfall in the Philippines, and is followed by Typhoon Parma which drops more rainfall to the already saturated Philippines. Typhoon Melor becomes a Category 5 while Nepartak briefly forms as a tropical storm, and Lupit becomes another Category 5 and nearly hits the Philippines before heading northeast. Typhoon Mirinae hits Central Luzon, causing more damages and misery to the Philippines. Tropical Depression Tino and Urduja briefly form, and Typhoon Nida becomes the strongest and final named storm of the season, which is then followed by a weak tropical depression in late December 2009. Due to many typhoons hitting the Philippines, the 2009 Pacific typhoon season was the costliest season for the Philippines on record.