The geography of Malaysia includes both the physical and the human geography of Malaysia, a Southeast Asian country made up of two major landmasses separated by water—Peninsular Malaysia to the west and East Malaysia to the east—and numerous smaller islands that surround those landmasses. Peninsular Malaysia is on the southernmost part of the Malay Peninsula, south of Thailand, north of Singapore and east of the Indonesian island of Sumatra; East Malaysia comprises most of the northern part of Borneo, and shares land borders with Brunei to the north and Indonesian Borneo to the south.
The 2001 Pacific typhoon season was an average season with twenty-six named storms, sixteen typhoons and three super typhoons, with a near normal Accumulated Cyclone Energy (ACE) of 307.3 units. It ran year-round in 2001, with most tropical cyclones in the northwestern Pacific Ocean tending between May and November.
The 1999 Pacific typhoon season was the last Pacific typhoon season to use English names as storm names. It also featured the lowest number of typhoons on record, with only five reaching this intensity. This was mainly due to a strong La Niña which persisted from last year. The season was also below-average in named storms, with only 20 of such spawning. This season also featured multiple landfalls in Hong Kong. It had no official bounds; it ran year-round in 1999, but most tropical cyclones tend to form in the northwestern Pacific Ocean between May and November. These dates conventionally delimit the period of each year when most tropical cyclones form in the northwestern Pacific Ocean. The first named storm, Hilda, developed on January 6, while the last named storm, Gloria, dissipated on November 16.
Tropical Storm Vamei was a Pacific tropical cyclone that formed at about 85 nautical miles from the equator—closer than any other tropical cyclone on record. The last storm of the 2001 Pacific typhoon season, Vamei developed on 26 December at 1.4° N in the South China Sea. It strengthened quickly and made landfall along extreme southeastern Peninsular Malaysia. Vamei rapidly weakened into a remnant low over Sumatra on 28 December, and the remnants eventually re-organized in the North Indian Ocean. Afterward, the storm encountered strong wind shear once again, and dissipated on 1 January 2002.
The 1993 North Indian Ocean cyclone season was the least active on record in the basin, with only four tropical disturbances. There are two main seas in the North Indian Ocean – the Bay of Bengal to the east of the Indian subcontinent and the Arabian Sea to the west. The India Meteorological Department (IMD) issued advisories for the systems in its official capacity as the local Regional Specialized Meteorological Center, while the Joint Typhoon Warning Center also issued advisories for two of the storms on an unofficial basis. Of the five disturbances tracked by the IMD, two intensified into cyclonic storms.
Severe Tropical Storm Linda, also known as Typhoon Linda, Cyclonic Storm Linda , or in the Philippines as Tropical Depression Openg, was the worst typhoon in southern Vietnam in at least 100 years, killing thousands of people and leaving extensive damage. It formed on October 31, 1997, in the South China Sea, between Indochina and the Philippines. Strengthening as it moved westward, Linda struck extreme southern Vietnam on November 2 with winds of 65 mph (105 km/h), dropping heavy rainfall. Once in the Gulf of Thailand it strengthened further to minimal typhoon status, but weakened to tropical storm strength before crossing the Malay Peninsula into the Bay of Bengal, the first storm to do so in five years. It restrengthened in the Indian Ocean to typhoon status, but increasing wind shear and weakened steering currents caused Linda to dissipate on November 9.
Severe Cyclonic Storm Jal was the fifth named cyclonic storm and the fourth Severe Cyclonic Storm of the 2010 North Indian Ocean cyclone season. Jal developed from a low-pressure area in the South China Sea that organized into a Tropical Depression on October 28. Jal is a Sanskrit word, meaning water. At least 54 people are known to have been killed in India. As a tropical depression, Jal produced torrential rains over parts of Thailand and Malaysia, triggering severe flooding which killed 59 and four people in the two countries respectively. In Sri Lanka, heavy rainfall with strong winds have caused flooding affecting around 80,000 people. In Thailand, Jal was responsible for 78 deaths, being the 4th deadliest tropical cyclone in the country.
Tropical Storm Toraji was a short-lived and minimal tropical cyclone that brought inundating rainfall to areas of Southeast Asia in July 2007. The name Toraji was contributed to the western Pacific typhoon naming list by North Korea and stands for a broad bell flower. The third named storm of the annual typhoon season, Toraji developed from an area of disturbed weather within the South China Sea on July 4. As a result of its northwesterly track, the tropical depression moved over Hainan shortly after tropical cyclogenesis. Upon its emergence into the Gulf of Tonkin on July 5, Toraji quickly intensified into a tropical storm with winds of 65 km/h (40 mph); this would be the tropical cyclone's peak intensity for its entire duration. However, the JMA indicated that tropical storm intensity had been reached a day earlier. On the evening of July 5, Toraji made its final landfall on Dongxing, Guangxi before rapidly deteriorating inland and degenerating into a remnant low-pressure area by the following day.
Tropical Storm Kai-tak, known in the Philippines as Tropical Storm Urduja, was a late-season tropical cyclone that affected the Philippines during December 2017. The twenty-sixth named storm of the 2017 Pacific typhoon season, Kai-tak started as a tropical depression near Palau on December 11. Slowly intensifying, the system became a tropical storm on December 14. Due to its slow motion, Kai-tak made landfall in Samar on December 16 and traversed the Philippine Islands. Kai-tak later moved in a west-southwestward direction until it dissipated on December 23 near Malaysia.
During 2017 tropical cyclones formed within seven different tropical cyclone basins, located within various parts of the Atlantic, Pacific and Indian Oceans. During the year, a total of 146 tropical cyclones had formed. 88 tropical cyclones had been named by either a Regional Specialized Meteorological Center (RSMC) or a Tropical Cyclone Warning Center (TCWC). The strongest and deadliest tropical cyclone was Hurricane Maria with a minimum barometric pressure of 908 mbar and killing 3,000 people in Puerto Rico and Dominica. The costliest tropical cyclone of the year was Hurricane Harvey in the Atlantic, which struck Houston metropolitan area in August causing US$125 billion in damage, tying with Hurricane Katrina as the costliest tropical cyclone worldwide.
Tropical Storm Toraji was a weak, short-lived system that impacted Vietnam in November 2018. Forming as the twenty-seventh named storm of the 2018 Pacific typhoon season, Toraji developed as a tropical depression to the southeast of Vietnam on November 16. Quickly organising, the system strengthened into a tropical storm the next day. Toraji rapidly weakened thereafter early on November 18, when the storm made landfall over southeastern Vietnam, later dissipating. The storm's remnants moved into the Gulf of Thailand when Toraji re-organised back into a tropical depression on November 20. However Toraji quickly deteriorated on the same day as it moved closer to the Malay Peninsula.
Typhoon Saudel, known in the Philippines as Typhoon Pepito, was a typhoon that affected the Philippines, Vietnam and Southern China in October 2020. It was seventeenth tropical storm and seventh typhoon of the 2020 Pacific typhoon season. The name Saudel was used for the first time, replacing Typhoon Soudelor in 2015, which caused serious damage in Taiwan and Mainland China. Saudel formed from a tropical disturbance east of the Philippines. The disturbance gradually organized and crossed the Philippines as a tropical storm. Once the system emerged into the South China Sea, it began to rapidly organize and intensify, becoming a typhoon early on October 22.
The Korean Peninsula is a peninsula region located over Eastern Asia. The region is divided into North Korea and South Korea.
Tropical Depression Greg was a Pacific tropical cyclone that formed at an unusually low latitude in the South China Sea, and became the worst tropical cyclone to affect Malaysia since reliable records began. The last storm of the 1996 Pacific typhoon season, Greg formed on December 24 on the same two monsoon troughs that also spawned Tropical Storm Fern in the basin and cyclones Ophelia, Phil and Fergus in the Southern Hemisphere. The storm headed an east-southeastward track and despite an unfavorable environment for intensification, Greg strengthened to a tropical storm on Christmas Day. It then reached its peak intensity shortly, with maximum sustained winds of 85 km/h (55 mph) and a minimum barometric pressure of 1002 hPa before making landfall along the northern portion of the Malaysian state of Sabah between 1700 and 1800 UTC on December 26. After crossing the state, it weakened to a tropical depression before passing through Tawi-Tawi in the Philippines on the next day. Wind shear further degraded the system until it dissipated on December 27 on the Celebes Sea, south of Mindanao.
Vietnam is a southeast Asian country, and is the easternmost country of mainland Southeast Asia. It borders the East Sea, hence, seeing the increased likeliness of tropical cyclones. Tropical cyclones in this area are considered to be part of the Northwest Pacific basin, and therefore, storms here are considered as typhoons.
