2000 Western Pacific typhoon season
Typhoon Saomai 2000
Typhoon Saomai contributed to severe flooding in Japan before reaching South Korea in September 2000. Its interaction with a weather front produced exceptional rain far from the storm's strongest winds.
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161 mph
Sep 10, 2000 during the tropical stage
Full archive record, including non-tropical stages if present
Along the recorded center positions
STORM HISTORY
Two periods of strengthening
Saomai developed over the western Pacific at the end of August and reached an initial typhoon peak on September 4. Wind shear then weakened it to a tropical storm. It regained typhoon strength on September 9 and intensified to maximum one-minute winds of 140 kt and a central pressure of 925 hPa the next day.
The storm passed Okinawa, entered the East China Sea and curved northeast toward South Korea. It reached the Korean coast as a severe tropical storm, then became extratropical on September 16. Its remnants continued into Russia.
Floods ahead of the center
Moisture associated with Saomai interacted with a front over Japan, producing record rainfall in Nagoya and widespread flooding. Officials evacuated about 400,000 people across three prefectures. The saved account attributes eleven deaths and ¥978 billion in damage across Japan and its outlying islands to the event, in 2000 currency.
In South Korea, eight people died, and power failures affected as many as 422,000 homes. Rain flooded crop fields, adding to damage from earlier storms. Saomai's developing rainbands had also caused damage in the Mariana Islands before its later passage toward East Asia.
Further reading
QUICK ANSWERS
Saomai in brief
What was Typhoon Saomai's highest wind speed?
161 mph, the highest one-minute sustained wind in its tropical stage, recorded on Sep 10, 2000, 12:00 PM UTC.
What category was Typhoon Saomai?
Category 5 at its peak on the Saffir–Simpson one-minute wind scale, first reaching Category 5 on Sep 10, 2000, 12:00 PM UTC. Other agencies classify storms differently.
What was Typhoon Saomai's lowest pressure?
925 mb, the minimum central pressure recorded during its tropical stage, on Sep 10, 2000, 12:00 PM UTC.
When did Typhoon Saomai occur?
The archived track runs from Aug 31, 2000, 06:00 PM UTC to Sep 19, 2000, 12:00 AM UTC, with the tropical stage from Aug 31, 2000, 06:00 PM UTC to Sep 16, 2000, 03:00 AM UTC.
Where did Typhoon Saomai form?
In the Western Pacific basin, in the 2000 season. Its first archived position is 13.5°N, 156.9°E on Aug 31, 2000, 06:00 PM UTC.
Did Typhoon Saomai make landfall?
The archive places its center over land at 1 recorded position; the strongest is 69 mph on Sep 15, 2000, 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