1976 Pacific typhoon season

Fewer storms, many of them intense

The Joint Typhoon Warning Center counted 25 numbered tropical cyclones in 1976, the same number as in 1975 and still below the long-term average. All 25 reached tropical storm strength and 14 became typhoons, four of them super typhoons. The site's archive agrees on 25 tropical storms and 14 typhoons. It counts 9 major typhoons because it uses a 96 kt threshold, lower than JTWC's 130 kt super typhoon line, and it puts accumulated cyclone energy at 293.6, well above the 161 of 1975.

JTWC described a season that started fast and ended early. The near-equatorial trough was in place by April and held for most of the year, except in late September and October, when easterly trades replaced the westerly flow along the equator. March was the only month without a numbered cyclone. Several long-lived storms, among them Olga, Pamela and Fran, kept the warning total near average at 661 despite the lower storm count. Some season lists give 15 typhoons, while those drawn from the JTWC report give 14.

A January typhoon and a busy spring

Typhoon Kathy formed in late January and peaked at 80 kt on 31 January without affecting land, making it the year's first typhoon in the archive. Tropical Storm Lorna followed in late February. In April Typhoon Marie reached 115 kt and 930 hPa in the archive. JTWC reported no known deaths from Marie but millions of dollars in damage to crops and buildings in the Palau Islands. Tropical Storm Nancy formed the same month, at the same time as a storm south of the equator, a pairing JTWC singled out.

Olga floods Luzon as Pamela crosses Guam

May brought the season's first simultaneous storms. Typhoon Olga formed in an active trough near 10N and wandered for days with a poorly stacked circulation, even relocating to a new center on 14 May. It completed a loop on the 20th, then deepened by 44 mb in about 16 hours and struck eastern Luzon near 16.5N at about 0000 UTC on 21 May with winds JTWC estimated at 100 kt, the same as its archived peak. Olga crept across the island at 2 to 4 kt and strengthened the southwest monsoon. More than 50 inches of rain fell at Cubi Point, and JTWC reported that the floods contributed to over 200 deaths and left thousands homeless. Later totals give 374 deaths.

Typhoon Pamela formed north of Truk on 13 May and looped around the island under the pull of an upper-level trough. Nearly 11 inches of rain fell on Truk in a day, and JTWC reported mudslides that killed 10 people there. Pamela peaked at 130 kt on 19 May, with a 921 mb reconnaissance pressure that evening, then turned toward Guam. JTWC estimated sustained winds of about 120 kt with gusts of 145 kt as the 20 nm eye took up to three hours to cross the island on 21 May.

Pamela's winds were 25 kt weaker than those of Typhoon Karen in 1962, but its 7 kt pace made it more destructive. Guam endured winds above 100 kt for six hours and typhoon-force winds for 18 hours, and the weather service at Taguac recorded 33 inches of rain. JTWC reported only one death on Guam and said damage from Pamela and Fran together exceeded one billion dollars. Pamela's damage came to $500 million in 1976 dollars.

Therese, Billie and a crowded summer

From June through September JTWC tracked six more two-storm periods and one with three storms at once. Typhoons Ruby and Sally both formed in late June and reached 120 kt and 115 kt in the archive. Ruby crossed Luzon first, killing 16 people. Sally stayed over open ocean.

Typhoon Therese deepened by 66 mb in under a day on 12 and 13 July and peaked at 135 kt with a 903 mb pressure, then passed 30 nm northeast of Saipan, which reported only minor damage. It weakened on its way north and reached Kyushu on 19 July with 40 kt winds. JTWC reported nearly 20 inches of rain on the island, more than 1,000 homes flooded, 12 ships sunk, 3 deaths and more than 1,300 people left homeless.

Typhoon Billie peaked at 125 kt in early August. JTWC reported that its waves drowned 41 fishermen and swimmers in the Ryukyu Islands, and that it caused 4 deaths in Taipei and millions of dollars in damage in northern Taiwan. Later in August, Tropical Storm Ellen struck Hong Kong, where 27 people were killed and 3 went missing, 18 of them in a single landslip at Sau Mau Ping.

Typhoon Fran stalls over southern Japan

Fran formed northeast of Ponape on 1 September and passed 20 nm west of Guam on the 5th as a tropical storm. After two anticyclones that had blocked its outflow broke down, it deepened explosively on 7 September, falling 43 mb in 12 hours. Reconnaissance measured 916 mb with winds near 130 kt that morning and a lowest pressure of 913 mb later that day. Fran then passed 60 nm east of Okinawa, where Naha recorded 55 kt sustained winds.

Near the Tokara Islands Fran slowed to 2 kt and drifted west for about 36 hours before turning north. It crossed Kyushu as a tropical storm on the evening of 12 September and became extratropical over the Sea of Japan the next day. JTWC called it the most destructive tropical cyclone to affect Japan in ten years. The Japanese National Police Agency confirmed 133 dead, 32 missing and 227 injured, and the Japan Times estimated damage at about $572 million in 1976 dollars.

Typhoon Iris followed in mid-September. It meandered slowly across the South China Sea, sank a Panamanian freighter with the loss of four lives, and struck southern China. After Typhoon Joan recurved east of Japan, JTWC issued no warnings for 36 days in September and October. It noted that no lull that long had occurred at that time of year since 1958.

Typhoon Louise ends the typhoon year

Louise was first seen east of Truk on 27 October and became a typhoon near Ulithi on 1 November. Short-wave troughs opened a gap in the subtropical ridge, and Louise turned northwest and deepened fast, falling 43 mb in 24 hours and a further 28 mb in 11 hours. Early on 3 November it reached 140 kt, the season's only Category 5 intensity in the archive, and aircraft measured 895 mb, the lowest pressure of the year. Louise held its peak for about 36 hours east of the Philippines, then recurved and weakened slowly, with no archived center position over land. Its effects in the Philippines and Japan were minor.

Three tropical storms followed without reaching typhoon strength: Marge in November, which peaked at 60 kt, and Nora and Opal in December. Nora brushed the Philippines. The archive's last tropical record for the year falls on 10 December.