2008 West Pacific Typhoons

Typhoon Neoguri (Ambo)

As the typhoon approached and passed Hainan Province, about 120,000 people were evacuated from low-lying areas. According to the China Meteorological Administration, it was the earliest in the year a tropical cyclone had ever impacted China (the old record was for Typhoon Wanda on May 3, 1971).42,000 residents were displaced in the aftermath of Neoguri.18 Chinese fisherman and 22 Vietnamese fisherman remain missing due to the passage of the storm. Three fatalities have been confirmed in China, two due to a road being covered in a mud flow, and another due to winds blowing a sheet of aluminum into a person, throwing them off the roof of a stadium.

Typhoon Rammasun (Butchoy)

Later that day the JMA upgraded the Tropical Depression to Tropical Storm status with RSMC Tokyo assigning the name Rammasun to the storm. It quickly organized, intensifying into a typhoon on May 9. Rapid intensification continued and it strengthened into a Category 4-equivalent typhoon by early on May 10, and a super typhoon by midday.

Rammasun continued on a northerly path, and reached a peak of 105 knots (194 km/h) and 915 hPa on May 10. Soon after, the typhoon began slowly weakening. The JTWC downgraded it to a typhoon on May 11.On May 12, the weakening became more rapid, and the JMA downgraded the system to a severe tropical storm, while the JTWC issued its last advisory, noting that it was extratropical. The JMA, however, held onto Rammasun until early May 13, when it downgraded the cyclone to a low and issued its final advisory. Though it never hit land, it was the third strongest May typhoon in recorded history, behind Damrey of 2000 and Phyllis in 1958.

A strong storm from the "tail" of Rammasun struck the Philippines as it passed south of Japan. The winds brought by the storm caused severe damage to some buildings and numerous trees some weighing tonnes were uprooted. The damage may have been due to a possible tornado but there is no clarification for this possibility. At least 40 people were injured and damage totaled to 11 million PHP ($280,000 USD).

Typhoon Nakri (Enteng)

Early on May 27, the JTWC issued its first advisory on Tropical Depression 06W. Hours after, the JMA designated the system as Tropical Storm Nakri. Early on May 28, the JMA upgraded it to a severe tropical storm. Twelve hours later, the JTWC upgraded 06W to a typhoon. Later that day, Nakri strengthened at a more rapid pace and the rapid intensification continued into May 29, when Nakri strengthened to a Category 4-equivalent typhoon. PAGASA then issued its first advisory on the storm on early on May 30 and named it "Enteng". By May 31 it began to weaken as it moved north. But on the next day, it started to re-intensify slightly. On June 2, it began to undergo transition to an extratropical system. And later, both JTWC and JMA stopped issuing advisories as it already degenerated to an extratropical low.

The name Nakri was submitted by Cambodia and refers to a type of flower found in the country

Typhoon Fengshen (Frank)

Fengshen was initially forecast to go through Bicol Region but later on shifted its course further westward, eventually going towards the direction of Mindoro Province. However, before even reaching Mindoro it again shifted its direction northward towards the direction of Metro Manila, mainly because of the weakening of the High Pressure area system in the northern part of the Philippines.

Typhoon Fengshen, after creating havoc in the Philippines, emerged into the South China sea on the 22nd of June and moved northwards towards China. After moving into the South China Sea both the JMA and PAGASA downgraded it to a severe tropical storm while the JTWC downgraded Fengshen from a Typhoon to a Tropical Storm. PAGASA then issued its final advisory on Tropical Storm Fengshen (Frank) due to Fengshen leaving PAGASA's Area of Responsibility. Late in the evening of the 24th June Tropical Storm Fengshen made landfall on Shenzhen, Guangdong, before moving into mainland China. The next day the JTWC downgraded Fengshen to a tropical depression and issued their final warning on the system. The JMA then announced their final warning as they downgraded Fengshen to a tropical depression.

Typhoon Kalmaegi (Helen)

In the Philippines, it passed over Northern Luzon (mostly affecting Ilocos and Cagayan Valley), where it killed two people, left more than 31,129 people affected and damaged 7 million worth of property. The storm also hit 82 villages (all in Northern Luzon) and caused around 45,000 worth of damage to farmland and livestock, Typhoon Kalmaegi, which was downgraded to tropical storm status by Taiwan's Central Weather Bureau while still east of the country, made landfall at Ilan County in northeast Taiwan in the evening of July 17 at 19:40 local time (13:40 UTC) and emerged into the Taiwan Strait at 7:20 in the morning local time (01:20 UTC) on July 18. At least nineteen lost their lives due to the storm and six are currently reported as missing. Tainan County in southern Taiwan reported more than 1100 mm of rainfall in some mountain regions. The storm caused NT$ 300 million worth of damage, > including an estimated US$16 million in agricultural losses, and the typhoon destroyed about 5,100 hectares of orchards and crops.

Typhoon Fung-wong (Igme)

Fung-wong then carried on intensifying and during the morning off July 26th Fung-wong became a severe tropical storm. Later that day both the JTWC and PAGASA upgraded Fung-wong to Typhoon status. However the JMA did not upgrade Fung-wong to Typhoon Status until early the next morning. Late on July 27th Fung-wong reached its peak wind speeds of 95 kts (110 mph, 170 km/h) which is equivalent to a strong category two Typhoon on the Safir-Simpson Hurricane Scale. Later that day Fung-wong made landfall on Taiwan near the border of Hualien County and Taitung County as a Typhoon. PAGASA then released their final advisory on Fung-wong as it had moved out of PAGASA's area of responsibility.

Typhoon Nuri (Karen)

The next day, both PAGASA and the JMA upgraded the depression to a Tropical Storm with RSMC Tokyo naming it as Nuri. It then intensified rather quickly with the JMA designating it as a Severe Tropical Storm with the JMA, PAGASA, and the JTWC upgrading Nuri to a Typhoon later that day. Late on August 19th Typhoon Nuri made landfall on the Philippines and then over the next day moved across northern Luzon causing 12 deaths and 461.3 million PHP in damage. that day Nuri entered the Babuyan Channel early the next day and started to move northwestwards towards Hong Kong and China. On August 21 PAGASA then issued its final advisory on Nuri as it was moving out of PAGASA's Area of Responsibility. The JMA then downgraded Nuri to a Severe tropical storm with the JTWC also downgrading Nuri to a Tropical Storm later that day as it was approaching Hong Kong. However the JMA did not downgrade Nuri to a tropical storm until the next morning after Nuri had made a rare direct hit on Hong Kong. The JTWC then issued its final advisory later on tropical storm Nuri and the JMA then downgraded Nuri to a weak tropical depression early the next day and issued its last full advisory on Nuri as it was just moving into the Chinese mainland.

Typhoon Sinlaku (Marce)

It then struggled to come out of its eye wall replacement cycle and as a result weakened in to a category three typhoon. The weakening trend continued until on September 13 typhoon Sinlaku made landfall on Taiwan as a category two typhoon. It moved towards the North West through Taiwan and then turned towards the north east and moved back into the South China Sea and started moving slowly towards Japan.

Typhoon Hagupit (Nina)

Early on September 19 the JMA began to issue full advisories on the depression as it moved in to PAGASA’s Area of Responsibility and was named Nina by PAGASA. Later that day both the JMA & the JTWC upgraded the depression to a tropical storm. The JMA named the storm as Hagupit, and assigned the international number of 0814. Early the next day Hagupit intensified into a severe tropical storm, and a category 3 typhoon later that day. It reached maximum intensity with 140 mph winds on September 23, and made landfall at that strength the next day. It then dissipated over land, thus late on September 24 JTWC issued its final advisory on the system followed by JMA early the next day.

Typhoon Jangmi (Ofel)

On September 23 a tropical disturbance formed to the northeast of Yap. It was originaly forecast not to become a Tropical Depression within 24 hours. However within 12 hours the JMA designated it as a Tropical Depression, as it moved further westwards. The JTWC then issued a TCFA on the developing depression, the JTWC then designated the depression as 19W. Early the next day the JMA started to issue full advisories on the depression whilst the JTWC designated it as a Tropical Storm. Later that day the JMA upgraded the depression to a Tropical Storm and assigned the name Jangmi and the international number of 0815. Jangmi then moved in to PAGASA's Area of Responsibilty and was assigned the name Ofel.

Early on September 25 Jangmi intensifed in to a Severe Tropical Storm, and then both the JMA & the JTWC upgraded Jangmi to a typhoon. Early the next day the JTWC reported that Jangmi had intensifed into a category two typhoon with winds of 105 mph (165 km/h). During that afternoon, the JMA reported that Jangmi had continued to intensify. However, the JTWC did not report intensification, keeping the storm at a steady 110 mph (175 km/h), However in their next advisory the JTWC reported that Jangmi had intenisfed in to a category four super typhoon with winds of 135 kts (150 mph, 215 km/h).