1983 Pacific typhoon season

The latest start since 1973

Tropical Storm Sarah opened the season in the South China Sea in late June, the latest season opener since 1973, according to the Joint Typhoon Warning Center. The site's first tropical-stage observation falls on 19 June, when Sarah's precursor was still a disturbance moving toward the Philippines. Sarah struck central Vietnam on 26 June.

The JTWC counted 25 tropical cyclones, six and a half below the annual average, and called 1983 the fifth consecutive below-average year. Two stayed depressions, 11 peaked as tropical storms and 12 became typhoons, four of them super typhoons: Wayne, Abby, Forrest and Marge.

The site's archive counts 22 tropical storms, 11 typhoons and 5 major typhoons, with accumulated cyclone energy of 195.9. Its totals run one lower than the JTWC's because Typhoon Ellen, which formed east of the Date Line, is counted in the site's 1983 Pacific hurricane season instead. The archive also counts only three Category 5 storms, since Wayne peaked at 135 kt, below the 137 kt Category 5 threshold. The Japan Meteorological Agency's ten-minute winds give 23 tropical storms and 10 typhoons.

Vera and Wayne in July

Typhoon Vera crossed southern Luzon on 14 and 15 July, where the JTWC reported nearly 100 dead, thousands homeless and heavy property damage. It regained strength over the South China Sea, crossed Hainan on 17 July and came ashore near Haiphong, Vietnam, the next day. Later totals give 106 deaths.

Typhoon Wayne went from 25 kt to 135 kt in 48 hours, a jump JTWC forecasters did not anticipate. It never touched the Philippines, yet its outer rain collapsed a bridge southeast of Manila, killing at least 20 people and leaving more than 100 missing. Wayne struck southeastern China at typhoon strength on 25 July and dissipated over the mountains; later totals give 105 deaths in all.

Abby's long week and Ellen in Hong Kong

Typhoon Abby formed southeast of Guam, intensified as it began to curve north, and reached 145 kt late on 8 August with a pressure of 895 hPa in the archive. Its winds stayed at 100 kt or more for seven days. Abby had weakened to a tropical storm when it crossed central Japan on 17 and 18 August, where the JTWC reported at least two deaths, 29 injuries, one person missing and 19 bridges destroyed by floods and landslides.

Typhoon Ellen crossed the Date Line from the east, peaked at 125 kt and came ashore near Macau on 9 September with sustained winds of about 65 kt. Channelled gusts reached 140 kt in Hong Kong, according to the JTWC, and preliminary reports listed six dead and 277 injured there, with 22 ships run aground. Ellen was Hong Kong's worst typhoon since 1979.

Typhoon Forrest's record plunge

Typhoon Forrest organized south of Guam and became a typhoon on 21 September. Aircraft dropsondes found a central pressure of 975 mb late that day, and about 11 hours later, at 1057 UTC on 22 September, crews recorded 883 mb, a fall of 92 mb in a little under 24 hours. It is the fastest-deepening tropical cyclone on record for the western Pacific. The archive records a peak of 150 kt and 885 hPa on 23 September, the season's strongest wind and lowest pressure.

Forrest passed 107 nautical miles southwest of Okinawa, where Kadena Air Base recorded gusts to 74 kt and 30 cm of rain, and a tornado cut a 91 m swath across an island to the northwest, injuring 26 people. It then turned north across southern Japan as an extratropical transition began. Initial reports listed 21 dead, 86 injured and 17 missing, with up to 48 cm of rain damaging 46,000 homes and stranding 28,000 travelers.

Weak storms, heavy losses in Vietnam

October brought a run of storms into Indochina. Tropical Storm Georgia struck the Bac Bo lowlands of northern Vietnam as the tide rose and the rice crop ripened; the JTWC cited preliminary estimates of 26 dead, 7,000 buildings damaged or destroyed and 100,000 hectares of rice lost. Tropical Storm Herbert came ashore near Nha Trang, killing 40 people. Tropical Storm Kim struck southeastern Vietnam on 16 October, where it killed 176 people and left 125 missing.

Typhoon Lex looped in the South China Sea, reached 70 kt, and came ashore near Dong Hoi, Vietnam, on 26 October as a tropical storm. The JTWC reported rivers rising 2 m, hundreds killed or injured and 17,000 homes destroyed. The drillship Glomar Java Sea sank south of Hainan during the storm, and none of its 81 crew was found alive. The storm killed 252 people in Binh Tri Thien province alone.

Marge and Orchid close the year

Typhoon Marge strengthened from 90 kt to 145 kt within 24 hours, as a JTWC objective aid had predicted, and the archive records 895 hPa on 4 November. It stayed east of the Philippines, then recurved and raced northeast at up to 54 kt, among the fastest forward speeds known for a tropical cyclone.

Typhoon Orchid wandered east of the Philippines for 11 days in late November and reached 125 kt on 23 November. Its seas capsized the ferry Dona Cassandra off Mindanao, and the JTWC reported 167 of the 387 passengers and crew killed. Typhoon Percy meandered in the South China Sea under Orchid's influence, and Tropical Storm Thelma ended the season in mid-December east of the Philippines.