1988 Pacific typhoon season

Short lives and a displaced monsoon trough

The Joint Typhoon Warning Center warned on 27 western North Pacific tropical cyclones in 1988: one super typhoon, 12 typhoons, 13 tropical storms and one depression, below its climatological mean of 30.7. That total includes Typhoon Uleki, which formed in the central North Pacific and crossed the Date Line in warning status. The site archive counts 25 tropical storms and 13 typhoons from US-agency one-minute winds, matching the storms JTWC's warning table lists at those strengths once Uleki is left out. Other season lists give 31 storms, adding systems tracked only by the Japan Meteorological Agency with ten-minute winds, and 11 typhoons.

JTWC singled out four features: only one super typhoon, short storm lifespans, a monsoon trough in an unusual position and an active tropical upper-tropospheric trough. The trough sat farther north than normal through summer and early autumn, which JTWC linked to the many odd tracks. Thirteen storms stayed in warning status for four days or less, against a usual lifespan of more than four warning days, so JTWC issued only 471 warnings on the basin. The site's accumulated cyclone energy for the year is 214.8.

Typhoon Roy in January, then a long wait

Typhoon Roy was only the second typhoon in 12 years to form in the basin in January. It reached 115 kt on 10 January and, in the archive, was both the first typhoon of the year and the longest-lived storm at 330 recorded hours. Its near miss of Guam did the most damage there since Super Typhoon Pamela in 1976. It caused one death and $23.5 million in damage across Micronesia and the Philippines, in 1988 dollars.

Nothing else formed until late May, when Typhoon Susan developed off Luzon in a monsoon trough running 4 to 5 mb below normal pressure. Rain from Susan's depression stage caused landslides that killed 36 people around Manila. Typhoon Warren followed in July on a straight west-northwest course, skirted northern Luzon and came ashore near Shantou on 19 July at typhoon strength, below its 115 kt peak. China's official media reported 17 killed and 153 injured, and more than 13,000 homes were destroyed in Guangdong.

Northern storms in August and September

July produced only two storms against an average of five. Once Tropical Storm Agnes went extratropical, the monsoon trough reset from the Gulf of Tonkin to near Okinawa. Tropical Storm Bill brushed Okinawa and came ashore near Shanghai at 45 kt, then stayed organized inland and caused widespread destruction and loss of life. It caused 110 casualties. The other four August storms all formed north of 20°N. Typhoon Doyle looped, interacted with an upper-level low and peaked at 115 kt near Wake Island, while Tropical Storm Elsie and Typhoon Fabian circled each other in a binary interaction.

In September the trough stretched from Vietnam to 175°E and spawned seven storms. Typhoon Hal formed west of Wake Island and, with Uleki, Tropical Storm Irma and Tropical Storm Jeff, created two separate three-storm situations; Irma and Jeff grew in Hal's inflow and were sheared apart as they followed it north. Uleki became only the third hurricane in 30 years to form in the central North Pacific and cross the Date Line in warning status. Tropical Storm Kit crossed northern Luzon and struck southern China near Shantou, where press reports counted eight deaths.

Nelson, the only super typhoon

After a five-day break, Typhoon Nelson formed in the monsoon trough east of the Philippines and deepened rapidly for two days. The archive records its peak of 140 kt and 915 hPa on 4 October, the season's strongest wind and lowest pressure. JTWC identified a break in the ridge to Nelson's northwest and forecast the recurvature correctly. Nelson passed about 155 km southeast of Okinawa, which recorded 212 mm of rain, and became extratropical by 9 October without making landfall.

Ruby and Skip across the Philippines

Typhoon Ruby followed a straight west-northwest track and peaked at 125 kt shortly before landfall in central Luzon on 24 October; JTWC described it as near super typhoon strength at that point, and it weakened sharply over the island. Ruby passed 65 nm north-northeast of Manila and brought Clark Air Base its strongest winds since 1978. JTWC reported more than 300 deaths and over 470,000 people homeless in the Philippines. Its count includes more than 150 who drowned when the ferry Doña Marilyn capsized in the Visayan Sea; later totals give 389 deaths in the sinking. Flash floods from Ruby's remnant rain killed at least 100 more people in northern Vietnam.

Typhoon Skip came two weeks later as the northeast monsoon set in. It peaked at 125 kt on 6 November, then weakened and sped up to 21 kt as it crossed Mindoro. JTWC reported at least 104 deaths from mudslides, floods and flying debris, 95 missing and more than 600,000 homeless, with heavy losses to coconut, rice and sugar crops.

Typhoon Tess formed before Skip but intensified slowly in the South China Sea, reaching 65 kt on 5 November. It was the only storm of the year to cross southern Vietnam, and it killed 55 people and left 83 missing there. Tropical Storm Val closed the season in late December after a surge of polar air filled the southern Philippine Sea with convection.