1999 Western Pacific typhoon season
Typhoon Bart 1999
Typhoon Bart crossed Japan in September 1999 after reaching Category 5 strength near Okinawa. Floods, landslides and strong winds damaged communities from the Ryukyu Islands to the main Japanese islands.
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161 mph
Sep 22, 1999 during the tropical stage
Full archive record, including non-tropical stages if present
Along the recorded center positions
STORM HISTORY
Strengthening near Okinawa
Bart developed south of Okinawa within the monsoon trough. Its early growth was slow, but conditions improved as upper-level winds changed. It became a typhoon on September 20, paused southwest of Okinawa and then moved north. Peak one-minute winds reached 140 kt on September 22, with a minimum central pressure of 930 hPa.
Bart passed about 75 kilometers west of Okinawa before weakening. It accelerated northeast, made landfall near Omuta on Kyushu and crossed Honshu. The storm then entered the Sea of Japan and continued toward the North Pacific as an extratropical system.
Flooding and widespread disruption
Rainfall reached 1,180 millimeters at Funato in Kochi Prefecture. Flooding, more than 245 landslides and fallen trees damaged buildings and transport routes. Officials canceled flights and ferries, disrupted train services and closed schools across affected areas.
The saved account records 36 deaths and more than 1,300 injuries. Floodwater entered 18,498 homes, and about 813,000 households lost electricity. Kumamoto Prefecture suffered some of the worst damage during Bart's passage across Kyushu.
Further reading
QUICK ANSWERS
Bart in brief
What was Typhoon Bart's highest wind speed?
161 mph, the highest one-minute sustained wind in its tropical stage, recorded on Sep 22, 1999, 06:00 AM UTC.
What category was Typhoon Bart?
Category 5 at its peak on the Saffir–Simpson one-minute wind scale, first reaching Category 5 on Sep 22, 1999, 06:00 AM UTC. Other agencies classify storms differently.
What was Typhoon Bart's lowest pressure?
930 mb, the minimum central pressure recorded during its tropical stage, on Sep 22, 1999, 12:00 PM UTC.
When did Typhoon Bart occur?
The archived track runs from Sep 17, 1999, 12:00 AM UTC to Sep 29, 1999, 06:00 AM UTC, with the tropical stage from Sep 17, 1999, 12:00 AM UTC to Sep 25, 1999, 12:00 AM UTC.
Where did Typhoon Bart form?
In the Western Pacific basin, in the 1999 season. Its first archived position is 20.4°N, 129.7°E on Sep 17, 1999, 12:00 AM UTC.
Did Typhoon Bart make landfall?
The archive places its center over land at 2 recorded positions; the strongest is 109 mph on Sep 23, 1999, 09:00 PM UTC. Positions are six-hourly, so this is not a landfall chronology.
METHODOLOGY
Data sources and limitations
The map and summary are generated from NOAA's IBTrACS v04r01 archive. Wind and category use US-agency records; minimum pressure is calculated during the tropical stage, with the archive's pressure source retained. Category 5 refers to the Saffir–Simpson one-minute wind scale; local agencies may use different classifications. Coastlines use Natural Earth's 1:10m land data.
Track distance adds great-circle distances between consecutive observations, excluding gaps over 12 hours. This track has no gaps over 12 hours. The line shows the storm's center, not its size, rainfall or flood extent. Converted wind speeds are rounded to the nearest whole unit.
Archive retrieved
NOAA IBTrACS archive and Field documentation
Sources & methodology