1996 Pacific typhoon season

One short of the 1964 record

The Joint Typhoon Warning Center logged 43 significant tropical cyclones in the western North Pacific in 1996, one short of the record 44 set in 1964 and almost 40 percent above its 1959 to 1995 average of 31. By its warning-based count, 33 reached tropical storm strength, 21 became typhoons, the most since 1972, and six reached its super typhoon threshold of 130 kt.

The site's archive, built from US-agency one-minute winds during the tropical stage, counts 31 tropical storms, 20 typhoons, 9 major typhoons and 4 Category 5 storms, with an accumulated cyclone energy of 363.3. The JTWC totals include Super Typhoon Yates, which does not appear in the site's 1996 storm list, and its six super typhoons include Violet and Yates at 130 kt, short of the 137 kt Category 5 line. Other season lists give 30 tropical storms, 16 typhoons and six super typhoons, drawing on a mix of agency definitions.

Thirty-one of the 43 JTWC systems formed in the low-latitude monsoon trough or near-equatorial trough. Eleven, including Dan, Eve, Joy, Piper and Carlo, formed at higher latitudes under cold-core lows in the tropical upper-tropospheric trough, a genesis route the JTWC tracked closely all year.

Bart in May, then an empty June

A tropical depression crossed the Philippines around the turn of February and March, only the fourth February system since 1970 in the JTWC record. Tropical Storm Ann followed in early April, moving west along 10°N into the central Philippines. Typhoon Bart, the first typhoon of the year, formed in the western Caroline Islands in May, reached typhoon strength on 12 May and peaked at 125 kt on 14 May before recurving at sea. Tropical Storm Cam then grew from a monsoon depression in the South China Sea and drifted east through the Luzon Strait.

June produced no significant cyclone at all. Strong low-level easterlies under strong upper westerlies created heavy vertical shear, and the JTWC counted only five other Junes since 1959 without one.

July: Eve, then three storms on one trough

Typhoon Eve formed at 20°N under an upper-level low and deepened explosively on 15 July, reaching 140 kt on 16 July in the archive. It was the first of four storms to reach that peak, which makes it the site's strongest storm of 1996, and the year's first super typhoon. An eyewall replacement cut its strength before its eye crossed Yakushima, where gusts reached 83 kt, and struck southern Japan on 18 July. The JTWC reported nine people injured in Kyushu; it caused no deaths in Japan but destroyed 2,361 homes.

By 21 July a monsoon cloud band from Southeast Asia to the Marshall Islands had split into three storms. Typhoon Frankie became a typhoon in the Gulf of Tonkin and went ashore in Vietnam late on 23 July, leaving 104 people dead or missing, 466 injured and over US$200 million in losses according to the JTWC. Typhoon Gloria skirted northeastern Luzon, where it killed at least 20 people, then crossed Taiwan into eastern China.

Typhoon Herb, the easternmost of the three, became the largest cyclone of the year by the size of its outer closed isobar. It peaked at 140 kt on 30 July with a minimum pressure of 925 hPa, the lowest in the archive for 1996, then crossed the southern Ryukyus and struck northern Taiwan on 31 July at Category 4 before a weaker landfall in mainland China. Taiwan's new NEXRAD radar took a direct hit and was badly damaged.

Rain did the worst harm. Daily totals near 1,000 mm fell on Taiwan's central mountains, and the JTWC reported at least 51 deaths and 22 missing in Taiwan, 24 of them in Nantou from rockslides and floods, and about US$5 billion of damage to crops, roads and power equipment there. In Fujian province at least 233 people died and 284 went missing when floods destroyed 70,000 homes. Later totals give 590 casualties and US$5 billion in damage in 1996 dollars.

August's displaced monsoon trough

August brought eight new systems while the monsoon trough sat far north of normal. Typhoon Kirk looped clockwise south of Japan, crossed Okinawa so slowly that its 70 nm eye took 12 hours to pass, and struck Kyushu on 14 August after peaking at 95 kt. The JTWC reported at least two people swept out to sea in southern Japan and more than 100,000 homes without power;

The South China Sea and the Gulf of Tonkin took the deadliest August hits. Tropical Storm Marty made landfall about 60 nm south of Hanoi, and the JTWC cited reports of 125 people killed and 107 missing, many among fishing crews in the Gulf of Tonkin. Typhoon Niki crossed Luzon, clipped southern Hainan and struck northern Vietnam, where the JTWC reported 61 dead or missing, 161 injured and US$66 million in losses. Farther east, Typhoon Orson wandered for two weeks, peaking at 115 kt, and tiny Typhoon Piper traced an S-shaped track north toward Kamchatka.

September's typhoon families

September produced six typhoons in the JTWC count. The monsoon trough settled from the Philippines into Micronesia and spawned a family of five: Sally, an unnamed tropical storm, Tom, Violet and Willie. As that trough drifted north with Tom and Violet, a new one formed at low latitude and produced Yates and Zane, which curved away in tandem.

Typhoon Sally reached 140 kt on 7 September in the archive while crossing the Luzon Strait, then weakened before striking the Leizhou Peninsula of southern China on 9 September. The JTWC called it catastrophic there, with at least 114 people killed and 110 missing. In Zhanjiang, 79 people died and wind uprooted almost every tree, and combined losses in Zhanjiang and Maoming reached an estimated US$1.5 billion, the worst economic losses there since 1954.

Typhoon Violet peaked at 130 kt and passed about 80 nm east-southeast of Tokyo, where its western eyewall dropped 265 mm of rain on the city and Tateyama measured a 106 kt gust. The JTWC reported seven deaths and 44 injuries in southeastern Japan. Tropical Storm Willie, small and never more than 90 nm from shore, looped around Hainan Island; the JTWC cited at least 38 deaths and 96 missing on Hainan, most from flooding, and later totals give 90 deaths in Vietnam. Typhoon Zane's rain later triggered mudslides that killed two people in Taiwan.

Guam, the Philippines and a December storm in Borneo

After a week-long lull in early October, a new monsoon trough produced the typhoon the JTWC named Beth, which crossed northern Luzon and killed at least three people before turning southwest into central Vietnam. Typhoon Carlo formed under an upper-level low near 17°N 168°E and peaked at 105 kt on its way north. In late October a weak depression crossed the Gulf of Thailand and the Isthmus of Kra into the Bay of Bengal.

Typhoon Dale formed near 8°N 150°E in early November after a burst of equatorial westerlies and passed 110 nm south of Guam late on 7 November. Its surf pounded the island for three days, overtopped the 100 ft cliffs at Orote Point and caused about US$3.5 million of damage, according to the JTWC. Dale reached 140 kt on 9 November in the archive, recurved east of the Philippines and became a strong extratropical cyclone on 14 November. Tropical Storm Ernie, forming beside it, crossed the central Philippines, where the JTWC reported 16 deaths.

A December westerly wind burst spawned twin monsoon troughs straddling the equator, and five storms formed along them, two north of the equator. Typhoon Fern passed directly over Yap, causing nearly US$3 million in damage and clean-up costs. Tropical Storm Greg formed between Vietnam and Borneo and moved east at low latitude into Sabah, where the JTWC reported at least 124 deaths and 100 missing, mainly from flooding. Later totals give 127 deaths. The archive's last tropical-stage observation falls on 29 December.