1989 Pacific typhoon season

The busiest year since the early 1970s

JTWC warned on 35 western North Pacific tropical cyclones in 1989: five super typhoons, 16 other typhoons, ten tropical storms and four depressions. That was the most tropical cyclones since 1974 and the most typhoons since 1972, above a climatological mean of 31. Post-analysis merged Tropical Storms Ken and Lola into one system, cutting the numbered total from 36. The site archive counts 30 tropical storms and 21 typhoons from US-agency one-minute winds. Its storm list leaves out Tropical Storm Winona, which formed southeast of Hawaii, while JTWC counts it. Other season lists give 32 named storms and 20 typhoons.

The site's five Category 5 storms are Andy, Gordon, Elsie, Gay and Irma. JTWC's five super typhoons swap Gay for Angela: Angela reached 130 kt, which met JTWC's super typhoon threshold but falls short of the 137 kt Category 5 line. JTWC listed Gay as a typhoon in the western Pacific because it reached super typhoon strength only in the Bay of Bengal. Accumulated cyclone energy in the site's archive reached 322.9.

JTWC called 1989 one of the most unique and challenging seasons in its 30-year history. The monsoon trough was very broad and its convection swung widely between day and night, so many disturbances stalled at 30 to 40 kt. JTWC began issuing a new 36-hour Tropical Depression Warning for systems not expected to become storms within 48 hours. A narrow mid-level ridge, averaging less than 250 nm across, made even straight-running storms hard to forecast, and an active upper-tropospheric trough shaped the birth and tracks of many cyclones.

Andy near Guam and Cecil in Vietnam

After Winona's two-week crossing in January, the basin stayed quiet until Typhoon Andy formed near Chuuk in mid-April. Andy was only the second typhoon in nine years to form in April, recurved at the unusually low latitude of 10°N and passed 70 nm southeast of Guam. The archive peaks it at 140 kt on 21 April, the season's first Category 5. About 1,100 people used shelters on Guam, where downed lines cut power to 15 percent of the island for several hours, with no major structural damage.

In May a monsoon trough stretched from the Bay of Bengal into the South China Sea. Typhoon Brenda crossed the central Philippines and struck southern China, where JTWC reports at least 84 deaths. Typhoon Cecil formed in its wake, one of only two storms of the year to spend its whole life in the South China Sea, and came ashore in Vietnam on 24 May with winds near 70 kt. News agencies cited by JTWC reported at least 52 deaths and more than 100,000 homeless. The Japan Meteorological Agency rated Cecil a severe tropical storm; its floods killed 751 people, and it was Vietnam's worst storm in more than 50 years. Typhoon Dot followed in June, crossing the Philippines and Hainan before dissipating over northern Vietnam.

Gordon and the most active July since 1973

Typhoon Gordon grew from a single thunderstorm beneath a cold upper-level low near Wake Island and deepened almost explosively. The archive gives it 140 kt and 915 hPa on 15 July, the season's lowest pressure, and JTWC reports it struck northern Luzon at that strength. News reports cited by JTWC counted 27 deaths and 15 missing in the Philippines; later totals give 90 Philippine deaths and at least 200 more in southern China, where Gordon made a weaker landfall on 18 July.

Seven cyclones formed in July, the most active July since 1973. Tropical Storm Irving came ashore in northern Vietnam at its peak, and news reports cited by JTWC put the toll at 102 deaths with more than 80,000 houses destroyed. Typhoon Judy brushed Kyushu and struck southern Korea; it killed 11 people in Japan and at least 20 in South Korea. Ken-Lola traced a looping path near Okinawa that JTWC first warned on as two storms.

In August Typhoon Mac made landfall east of Tokyo, and Typhoon Owen and Typhoon Nancy spent three days in binary interaction south of Japan, with Tropical Storm Peggy briefly drawn in. Owen, slowed by its neighbour, took more than a week to reach storm strength and logged 420 hours in the archive, the longest track of the year. Heavy rain from several storms between June and September contributed to Chinese floods that killed about 3,000 people.

Sarah over Taiwan and Vera near Shanghai

Typhoon Sarah stalled east of Luzon, looped and crossed Taiwan, and JTWC ranked it among the hardest storms of the year to forecast. It killed 44 people in the Philippines and 19 in Taiwan. Tropical Storm Vera made what JTWC called a devastating landfall just south of Shanghai in mid-September. Flood damage in Zhejiang was the worst in 27 years, and news estimates put the toll at 500 to 700 deaths.

Four typhoons across Luzon in six weeks

Typhoon Angela stayed in warning status for 12 days and drew 46 warnings, both highs for 1989. It reached 130 kt and struck northern Luzon on 5 October at super typhoon strength. News reports cited by JTWC counted 62 deaths, mostly drownings, and more than 22,000 houses destroyed; Angela then landed about 30 nm north of Hue. Typhoon Brian crossed southern Hainan, where JTWC cites at least 31 deaths, before reaching Vietnam.

Typhoon Dan crossed the central Philippines days later. The Philippine social welfare department reported at least 41 deaths and 232,555 people left homeless or without livelihoods, and 95 percent of Metro Manila lost power. Typhoon Elsie became the third typhoon to hit the Philippines within 12 days. It struck central Luzon with 140 kt winds, the most intense landfall in the country that year, but its small size meant JTWC counted at least 17 deaths and 50,000 homeless. Typhoon Hunt crossed central Luzon in late November, the fourth typhoon to strike the Philippines within six weeks.

Typhoon Gay from the Gulf of Thailand to India

Typhoon Gay formed in the Gulf of Thailand in early November and intensified faster than forecast. Its eye passed over the drilling ship Seacrest, which capsized in 35 to 45 ft seas. Gay reached 100 kt before striking Chumphon province on 4 November. JTWC reports at least 458 deaths, more than 600 fishermen missing and 200 fishing boats lost, and called Gay the worst cyclone to hit the Malay Peninsula in 35 years.

Gay crossed the peninsula into the Bay of Bengal and strengthened again, and JTWC put its landfall about 120 nm north of Madras on 8 November at 140 kt, matching the archive's peak. The storm was tiny, with 30 kt winds extending little beyond 50 nm, and it came ashore in a rural area. JTWC reports 39 deaths in India and more than 20,000 homes destroyed or damaged.

Irma and a stalled Jack to close the year

Typhoon Irma lasted 17 days and drew 39 warnings. It developed slowly, then intensified rapidly over the Philippine Sea to 140 kt on 30 November before recurving without landfall. Typhoon Jack sat about 175 nm east of Guam for nearly two days in late December. It intensified from 30 to 125 kt in three and a half days, then its winds fell from 105 to 30 kt in 24 hours, and satellites later found a cold ocean eddy where it had stalled.