Tropical cyclones in 2010

2010 was considered as one of the least active years for tropical cyclones on record, with only 64 named systems forming. During the year, tropical cyclones formed within seven different tropical cyclone basins, located within various parts of the Atlantic, Pacific and Indian Oceans. During the year, a total of 111 tropical cyclones developed, with 64 of them being named by either a Regional Specialized Meteorological Center or a Tropical Cyclone Warning Center. The most active basin was the North Atlantic, which documented 19 named systems, while the North Indian Ocean, despite only amounting to five named systems, was its basin's most active since 1998. Conversely, both the West Pacific typhoon and East Pacific hurricane seasons experienced the fewest cyclones reaching tropical storm intensity in recorded history, numbering 14 and 8, respectively. Activity across the southern hemisphere's three basins—South-West Indian, Australian, and South Pacific—was spread evenly, with each region recording 7 named storms apiece. The southern hemisphere's strongest tropical cyclone was Cyclone Edzani, which bottomed out with a barometric pressure of 910 mbar in the South-West Indian Ocean. Nineteen Category 3 tropical cyclones formed, including four Category 5 tropical cyclones in the year. The accumulated cyclone energy index for the 2010, as calculated by Colorado State University was 573.8 units.
The strongest of these tropical cyclones was Typhoon Megi, which strengthened to a minimum barometric pressure of 885 mbar before striking the east coast of Luzon in the Philippines. The costliest tropical cyclone in 2010 was Hurricane Karl, which struck the Veracruz, Mexico area in September, causing US$5.6 billion in damage. Hurricane Alex, Tropical Storm Matthew, and Tropical Storm Agatha were the only other tropical cyclones worldwide in 2010 to accrue over US$1 billion in damage. Agatha was also the year's deadliest storm, killing 190 people primarily in Guatemala after lasting for only one day over the waters of the East Pacific.

Global atmospheric and hydrological conditions

The previous El Niño event broke down during the first quarter of 2010. The climate of the Pacific Ocean subsequently returned to neutral conditions by the end of April, while climate models used and developed by various meteorological agencies, subsequently started to show signs that a La Niña event would develop later in 2010. Over the next month the Pacific Ocean started to show various signals that indicated a La Niña event was developing and as a result, a La Niña watch was issued by the United States Climate Prediction Center during their June 2010 ENSO diagnostic discussion. As the ocean's surface temperature cooling progressed, more colder anomalies appeared at the International Date Line rather than over eastern Pacific, what made the event a Modoki La Nina.

Season summary

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from:29/05/2010 till:30/05/2010 color:EPAC/CPAC text:"Agatha"
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from:23/06/2010 till:28/06/2010 color:EPAC/CPAC text:"Darby"
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from:02/08/2010 till:08/08/2010 color:NATL text:"Colin"
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from:06/08/2010 till:12/08/2010 color:WPAC text:"Dianmu"
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from:27/08/2010 till:04/09/2010 color:WPAC text:"Lionrock"
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barset:skip
from:19/12/2010 till:20/12/2010 color:WPAC
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barset:skip
barset:skip
from:20/12/2010 till:21/12/2010 color:EPAC/CPAC text:"Omeka"
from:22/12/2010 till:24/12/2010 color:AUSR text:"04U"
from:24/12/2010 till:25/12/2010 color:AUSR text:"Tasha"
barset:break
from:30/12/2010 till:02/01/2011 color:AUSR text:"06U"
from:30/12/2010 till:02/01/2011 color:AUSR text:"07U"
from:31/12/2010 till:02/01/2011 color:SPAC text:"02F"
from:31/12/2010 till:02/01/2011 color:AUSR text:"08U"
bar:Month width:5 align:center fontsize:S shift: anchor:middle color:canvas
from:27/12/2009 till:31/12/2009 text:Dec. '09
from:01/01/2010 till:01/02/2010 text:January
from:01/02/2010 till:01/03/2010 text:February
from:01/03/2010 till:01/04/2010 text:March
from:01/04/2010 till:01/05/2010 text:April
from:01/05/2010 till:01/06/2010 text:May
from:01/06/2010 till:01/07/2010 text:June
from:01/07/2010 till:01/08/2010 text:July
from:01/08/2010 till:01/09/2010 text:August
from:01/09/2010 till:01/10/2010 text:September
from:01/10/2010 till:01/11/2010 text:October
from:01/11/2010 till:01/12/2010 text:November
from:01/12/2010 till:31/12/2010 text:December
from:01/01/2011 till:07/01/2011 text:Jan. '11
TextData =
pos:
text:"This table is based on the"
pos:
text:"tropical cyclone basins"