1980 Pacific typhoon season

A second quiet year in a row

The Joint Typhoon Warning Center called 1980 the second consecutive year of below-normal activity in the western North Pacific. It warned on 28 tropical cyclones, the same number as in 1979, against a 1959 to 1979 average of about 33. Of those 28, four never grew beyond depressions, nine peaked as tropical storms and 15 became typhoons, two of them super typhoons with winds of 130 kt or more. Warning days fell from 149 in 1979 to 128.

The site's archive counts 23 tropical storms and 14 typhoons, with accumulated cyclone energy of 225.4. It uses one-minute winds from US agencies during the tropical stage, so its totals differ from the JTWC warning list of 24 storms and 15 typhoons; Typhoon Dinah, a compact November storm in the JTWC list, appears in the site's 1980 Pacific hurricane season instead, because the archive files its track under the eastern and central Pacific basin. The Japan Meteorological Agency, which measures ten-minute winds, counted 24 tropical storms and 17 typhoons, and another published calculation gives an ACE of about 237.8.

Carmen, Dom and Ellen open the year

The archive's first tropical-stage observation came on 18 March, from a depression that crossed into the Philippines, where four people died. Tropical Storm Carmen followed in early April, forming in the near-equatorial trough near the Date Line and peaking at 60 kt before it drifted back east.

May brought four storms. Typhoon Dom became the season's first typhoon on 12 May in the archive and brushed eastern Luzon, where Baguio recorded 730.3 mm of rain on 15 May; Philippine damage came to 2.4 million pesos, about US$320,000 at the time. Typhoon Ellen, which peaked at 110 kt and 930 hPa, stayed at sea south of Japan, though its rain set off around 60 landslides there. Tropical Storm Georgia came ashore near Shantou on 23 May at 55 kt, and Tropical Storm Forrest struck Luzon two days later.

Joe and Kim strike Luzon a week apart

Typhoon Joe raced west along a nearly straight path under an unusually strong subtropical ridge. Six hours before landfall on central Luzon it reached 105 kt and 940 hPa at 1200 UTC on 20 July. It crossed the island in just over six hours as a weakening storm, then regained typhoon strength over the South China Sea, where its gale-force winds reached 450 nautical miles east of the center. Joe came ashore near Haiphong, Vietnam, on 22 July; the Vietnam News Agency reported winds above 70 kt.

The JTWC report cited 19 deaths and about 177,000 people left homeless in the Philippines, and noted that exact figures were never compiled because Kim arrived days later. Later totals give 31 deaths in the Philippines and 130 in Vietnam, where 165,000 people lost their homes. Joe's flooding also damaged crops and property across southern China.

Typhoon Kim, the season's first super typhoon, formed south of Guam and passed directly over Ulithi. It deepened fast on 24 July, when reconnaissance aircraft measured 908 hPa, and the archive records a peak of 130 kt and 910 hPa. The pressure rose sharply as Kim neared the coast, and the JTWC placed its Luzon landfall wind near 100 kt. The JTWC report cited an estimated 15 deaths and 167,000 people displaced in the Philippines, with floods reaching Manila; later totals give 40 deaths. Kim crossed into southern China northeast of Hong Kong on 27 July as a tropical storm.

Lex's loops and a late-summer lull

The JTWC named Typhoon Lex the hardest storm of the year to forecast. It grew from an upper-tropospheric trough near Marcus Island, made five turns of a right angle or more, looped once, and peaked at 80 kt before heading northeast east of Japan. Lex stayed far from land, and its tropical stage spanned 29 July to 8 August, the longest record in the archive for the year.

Typhoon Marge peaked at 110 kt in mid-August over open water. Typhoon Norris passed about 10 nautical miles from Yonaguni on 27 August and moved into northern Taiwan, where floods swept away 60 houses and killed two people, while the rain relieved the island's worst drought since 1950.

Five September typhoons, from Japan to Vietnam

September was the busiest month, with seven of the JTWC's 28 cyclones and five of its typhoons. Typhoon Orchid looped three times near 23N before recurving into southern Japan. The JTWC reported six deaths and heavy crop damage in southern Japan, at least three deaths in South Korea and 112 fishermen missing in the Korea Strait. The bulk carrier Derbyshire sank in the storm with all 44 people aboard.

Typhoon Ruth began as a monsoon depression in the South China Sea, crossed Hainan and strengthened over the Gulf of Tonkin before coming ashore south of Thanh Hoa, Vietnam, on 16 September. The JTWC reported nearly half a million people homeless and 106 people known dead or missing in Vietnam. Ruth left 173 dead and 6 missing and was the worst typhoon to hit Thanh Hoa province in 30 years.

Typhoon Percy reached 125 kt and 915 hPa on 17 September in the archive, then crossed the southern tip of Taiwan the next day. Taiwan's mountains cut off its inflow, and Percy weakened almost as fast as it had strengthened, reaching the Chinese coast east of Canton at about 45 kt. Newspaper accounts cited by the JTWC reported 7 dead, 16 injured and 140 homes damaged in Taiwan. Typhoon Sperry and Typhoon Vernon both recurved at sea.

Typhoon Wynne's explosive deepening

Typhoon Wynne began as convection feeding into Vernon and grew into a small, tight storm that synoptic maps barely showed, so the JTWC held its formation alert for 21 hours. From 3 to 7 October it strengthened and weakened three times on a daily cycle, with the deepest convection in the early morning. Its third weak phase came as it passed 45 nautical miles northeast of Guam, leaving the island almost untouched.

Wynne then deepened explosively. The JTWC tracked a pressure fall from 982 hPa to 890 hPa over 35 hours, and the archive records a peak of 150 kt on 9 October, about 490 nautical miles southeast of Okinawa, the season's strongest wind and lowest pressure. Wynne recurved about 100 nautical miles west of Okinawa, bringing more than two days of torrential rain and gusts above 65 kt, then ran east-northeast about 80 nautical miles off Japan. The JTWC reported that heavy rain claimed several lives and flooded more than a thousand homes in Japan; later totals give ten deaths.

Betty in Luzon, Dinah on Saipan

Typhoon Betty formed near Truk, passed south of Guam at 21 kt and peaked at 125 kt about 12 hours before landfall. At 1600 UTC on 4 November it struck central Luzon south of Cape San Ildefonso with winds of about 120 kt, according to the JTWC. Initial reports cited at least 81 dead, thousands homeless and most of the Cagayan Valley rice crop lost to floods that rose to rooftops. Later totals give 103 deaths and 25 missing, with damage of 1.358 billion pesos, about US$200 million at the time.

Typhoon Dinah, a compact storm, forced the evacuation of military aircraft from Guam before a late shift in the forecast track took it over the northeastern corner of Saipan on 22 November. Saipan and Tinian had 60 homes destroyed and 214 damaged, Saipan lost power for several days, and the governor estimated damage at $7 million. President Carter declared a major disaster. Tropical Storm Ed closed the season, drifting from near Yap toward Mindanao in December.