The name Rai has been used for two tropical cyclones in the western north Pacific Ocean. The name was contributed by Micronesia where large carved artifacts called Rai stones are a national symbol. It replaced Fanapi after the 2010 storm, which replaced Rananim after the 2004 storm.
In 2023, the name Rai was announced to be retired and will no longer be used. [1] In 2024, it was replaced by Sarbul, which is a Yapese word for monsoon or rainy season. [2]
Tropical cyclones and subtropical cyclones are named by various warning centers to simplify communication between forecasters and the general public regarding forecasts, watches and warnings. The names are intended to reduce confusion in the event of concurrent storms in the same basin. Once storms develop sustained wind speeds of more than 33 knots, names are generally assigned to them from predetermined lists, depending on the basin in which they originate. Some tropical depressions are named in the Western Pacific, while tropical cyclones must contain a significant amount of gale-force winds before they are named in the Southern Hemisphere.
The 2005 Pacific typhoon season was the least active typhoon season since 2000, producing 23 named storms, of which 13 became typhoons. It was an event in the annual cycle of tropical cyclone formation, in which tropical cyclones form in the western Pacific Ocean. The season ran throughout 2005, though most tropical cyclones typically develop between May and October. The season's first named storm, Kulap, developed on January 13, while the season's last named storm, Bolaven, dissipated on November 20. The season's first typhoon, Haitang, reached typhoon status on July 13, and became the first super typhoon of the year three days later.
Tropical cyclones are ranked on one of five tropical cyclone intensity scales, according to their maximum sustained winds and which tropical cyclone basins they are located in. Only a few classifications are used officially by the meteorological agencies monitoring the tropical cyclones, but other scales also exist, such as accumulated cyclone energy, the Power Dissipation Index, the Integrated Kinetic Energy Index, and the Hurricane Severity Index.
The 2019 Pacific typhoon season was a devastating season that became the costliest on record, just ahead of the previous year and 2023, mainly due to the catastrophic damage wrought by typhoons Lekima, Faxai, and Hagibis. The season featured fairly above-average tropical cyclone activity for the second consecutive year, producing 29 named storms, 17 typhoons, and five super typhoons. The season's first named storm, Pabuk, reached tropical storm status on January 1, becoming the earliest-forming tropical storm of the western Pacific Ocean on record, breaking the previous record that was held by Typhoon Alice in 1979. The season's first typhoon, Wutip, reached typhoon status on February 20. Wutip further intensified into a super typhoon on February 23, becoming the strongest February typhoon on record, and the strongest tropical cyclone recorded in February in the Northern Hemisphere. The season's last named storm, Phanfone, dissipated on December 29 after it made landfall in the Philippines.
The practice of using names to identify tropical cyclones goes back several centuries, with storms named after places, saints or things they hit before the formal start of naming in each basin. Examples of such names are the 1928 Okeechobee hurricane and the 1938 New England hurricane. The system currently in place provides identification of tropical cyclones in a brief form that is easily understood and recognized by the public. The credit for the first usage of personal names for weather systems is given to the Queensland Government Meteorologist Clement Wragge, who named tropical cyclones and anticyclones between 1887 and 1907. This system of naming fell into disuse for several years after Wragge retired, until it was revived in the latter part of World War II for the Western Pacific. Over the following decades, formal naming schemes were introduced for several tropical cyclone basins, including the North and South Atlantic, Eastern, Central, Western and Southern Pacific basins as well as the Australian region and Indian Ocean.
Severe Tropical Storm Washi, known in the Philippines as Severe Tropical Storm Sendong, was a late-season tropical cyclone that caused around 1,200 to 2,500 deaths and catastrophic damage in the Philippines in late 2011. Washi made landfall over Mindanao, a major region in the Philippines, on December 16. Washi weakened slightly after passing Mindanao, but regained strength in the Sulu Sea, and made landfall again over Palawan on December 17.
The 2022 Pacific typhoon season was the third consecutive season to have below average tropical cyclone activity, with twenty-five named storms forming. Of the tropical storms, ten became typhoons, and three would intensify into super typhoons. The season saw near-average activity by named storm count, although many of the storms were weak and short-lived, particularly towards the end of the season. This low activity was caused by an unusually strong La Niña that had persisted from 2020. The season's first named storm, Malakas, developed on April 6, while the last named storm, Pakhar, dissipated on December 12. The season's first typhoon, Malakas, reached typhoon status on April 12. The season ran throughout 2022, though most tropical cyclones typically develop between May and October. Tropical storms Megi and Nalgae were responsible for more than half of the casualties, while typhoons Hinnamnor and Nanmadol both caused $1 billion in damages.
Severe Tropical Storm Kompasu, known in the Philippines as Severe Tropical Storm Maring was a very large and deadly tropical cyclone that affected the Philippines, Taiwan, and southeast China. Part of the 2021 Pacific typhoon season, Kompasu originated from an area of low pressure east of the Philippines on 6 October 2021. The Japan Meteorological Agency (JMA) classified it as a tropical depression that day. A day later, the Philippine Atmospheric, Geophysical and Astronomical Services Administration (PAGASA) classified it as a tropical depression, naming it Maring. The cyclone was initially heavily disorganised, competing with another vortex, Tropical Depression Nando. Eventually, Maring became dominant, and the JMA reclassified it as a tropical storm, naming it Kompasu. Kompasu made landfall in Cagayan, Philippines, on 11 October 2021, and two days later, the storm made landfall in Hainan, China. The cyclone dissipated on 14 October 2021 while located over Vietnam.
Typhoon Rai, known in the Philippines as Super Typhoon Odette, was a deadly and extremely destructive super typhoon, which was the second costliest typhoon in Philippine history behind Typhoon Haiyan in 2013. Rai was a powerful rare tropical cyclone that struck the Philippines in December 2021. Rai became the first Category 5-equivalent super typhoon to develop in the month of December since Nock-ten in 2016, and the third of four Category 5 super typhoons recorded in the South China Sea, along with Pamela in 1954, Rammasun in 2014 and Yagi in 2024.
Tropical Storm Megi, known in the Philippines as Tropical Storm Agaton, was a weak but deadly tropical cyclone that impacted the Philippines in April 2022. It was the third tropical depression, and the second tropical storm of the 2022 Pacific typhoon season. Megi originated from an area of convection in the Philippine Sea where it slowly tracked northwestward into Leyte Gulf, where it remained almost stationary, slowly tracking to the east. Megi made two landfalls, one in Calicoan Island in Guiuan, and another in Basey, Samar. It continued to track southwestward and reentered the Philippine Sea before dissipating.
Severe Tropical Storm Ma-on, known in the Philippines as Severe Tropical Storm Florita, was a tropical cyclone that impacted the Philippines in August 2022. The ninth named storm of the 2022 Pacific typhoon season, Ma-on originated as a disturbance over in the Pacific Ocean on August 18, and was upgraded to a tropical depression during the next day. The depression strengthened into a tropical storm receiving the name Ma-on, and became a severe tropical storm late on August 23 before making landfall in the Philippines. It would later make landfall in China and Vietnam on August 25. Ma-on weakened back to a tropical depression and due to unfavorable conditions it dissipated on August 26, 2022.
Severe Tropical Storm Nalgae, known in the Philippines as Severe Tropical Storm Paeng, was a very large and deadly tropical cyclone that wreaked havoc across the Philippines and later impacted Hong Kong and Macau. Nalgae, meaning wing in Korean, the twenty-second named storm of the 2022 Pacific typhoon season, Nalgae originated from an invest located east of the Philippines on October 26. The disturbance, initially designated as 93W, was eventually upgraded the following day to a tropical depression by the Joint Typhoon Warning Center (JTWC) and re-designated as 26W. The Japan Meteorological Agency (JMA) however, had already considered the disturbance as a tropical depression a day prior to JTWC's; the Philippine Atmospheric, Geophysical and Astronomical Services Administration (PAGASA) also followed the JMA's lead and gave it the name Paeng. That same day, it was upgraded again by the JMA to tropical storm status, thus gaining the name Nalgae.