Pacific typhoon season 2025: 27 named storms, most in six years, with multiple record-breaking events
Japan Meteorological Agency data show the western Pacific recorded 27 named tropical cyclones in 2025—the most since 2019—alongside rare tracks, late-season landfalls and a violent typhoon.
The 2025 western Pacific typhoon season drew close attention after data from the Japan Meteorological Agency (JMA)—the region’s main body for monitoring and naming storms—showed 27 named tropical cyclones for the year, the highest total since 2019. The figures underline a clear rise in weather volatility and intensity.
Of the 27 named storms in 2025:
- 27 reached tropical storm strength,
- 7 intensified into severe tropical storms,
- 8 developed into typhoons.
Among the typhoons, four were classified as very strong, and only one reached the highest category—known as a violent typhoon, defined as having sustained winds of 194 kilometres per hour or more.
The most intense typhoon of the season was Ragasa, recorded as the strongest storm in the western Pacific basin in 2025. It posted a minimum sea-level pressure of 905 hPa and a 10-minute sustained wind speed of 205 kilometres per hour. Ragasa was also the only storm of the year to reach the violent typhoon category, causing widespread damage and impacts.
The 2025 season also saw several new names used for the first time:
- Co-May
- Nongfa
- Ragasa
- Koto
They replaced older names—Lekima, Faxai, Hagibis and Kammuri—which were retired after the 2019 season due to the severe damage they caused, in line with international practice.
JMA’s numbering system for the year used codes such as Wutip (2501), meaning the first tropical cyclone of 2025.
A season full of “off-the-record” anomalies
Beyond the storm count and intensity, 2025 featured multiple meteorological events described as unusual compared with historical records, including:
- Wutip (2501), the first storm of the year, formed unusually late—ranked as the fifth-latest first storm since records began in 1951.
- Danas (2504) became the first typhoon in nearly 40 years to make landfall along Taiwan’s west–central coast, the first since 1986.
- Hong Kong faced heightened risk from Wipha (2506) and Ragasa (2518), prompting the issuance of Signal No. 10, the highest storm warning—only the second time since 1964.
- Neoguri (2519) was classified as forming at an unusually high latitude, and was the north-easternmost storm since 1997.
- Matmo (2521) was cited as the season’s costliest, with estimated economic losses of US$3.86 billion.
- Kalmaegi (2525) was reported to have caused the highest death toll, with more than 288 fatalities.
- Fung-wong (2526) set a new record by becoming the first storm on record to make landfall on Taiwan’s south-west coast in November, a very late point in the season.
he review also mentioned Cyclone Senyar. Although it did not form directly in the western Pacific basin, it was included due to its unusually low-latitude development and cross-basin movement, affecting several countries including Thailand and Malaysia. Senyar was described as the first tropical cyclone on record to make landfall on the west coast of Peninsular Malaysia, and only the third to make landfall in Malaysia, after Greg (1996) and Vamei (2001).
Overall, the 2025 season was notable not only for a higher storm total, but also for more intense systems, unusual tracks and wider cross-border impacts. Many analysts view these trends as a warning sign for future disaster preparedness challenges—particularly across East Asia and Southeast Asia, including Thailand.
