The 2002 season

Super Typhoon Higos (2002)

Super Typhoon Higos reached Category 4 in the Western Pacific between September 25, 2002 and October 4, 2002, with a lowest pressure of 904 mb, and made landfall.

Radar

Reflectivity now over Super Typhoon Higos. Open it to see storms, cones and warnings on the map.

Open the live radar with storms, cones and warnings

Radar mosaic and map layers from NOAA MRMS. Boundaries from the Iowa Environmental Mesonet.

The storm

Basin
Western Pacific
Dates
September 25, 2002 to October 4, 2002
Peak strength
Category 4, 135 kt (155 mph)
Lowest pressure
904 mb (26.70 inHg)
Landfall
Yes
Accumulated cyclone energy
20.1
Tropical-storm-force wind reached
150 nmi (278 km, 173 mi) from the center at its widest
Eyewall radius at its peak
20 nmi (37 km, 23 mi)
Overall size
180 nmi (333 km, 207 mi) to the outermost closed isobar
Fastest the center moved
48 kt (55 mph)
Identifier
WP252002

Deaths and damage

No source this site reads carries a casualty or damage figure for this storm.

Track

Time (UTC)PositionWindPressureStatus
Sep 25, 00:0014.7N 162.5E15 kt1006 mbTropical depression
Sep 25, 06:0014.9N 161.6E15 kt1006 mbTropical depression
Sep 25, 12:0015.1N 160.1E15 kt1006 mbTropical depression
Sep 25, 18:0015.3N 158.6E15 kt1006 mbTropical depression
Sep 26, 00:0015.5N 157.2E20 kt1004 mbTropical depression
Sep 26, 06:0015.5N 155.8E25 kt1002 mbTropical depression
Sep 26, 12:0015.5N 154.7E30 kt1000 mbTropical depression
Sep 26, 18:0015.7N 153.4E35 kt997 mbTropical storm
Sep 27, 00:0016.0N 152.0E45 kt991 mbTropical storm
Sep 27, 06:0016.4N 150.6E50 kt987 mbTropical storm
Sep 27, 12:0016.9N 149.0E55 kt984 mbTropical storm
Sep 27, 18:0017.5N 147.3E65 kt976 mbTyphoon
Sep 28, 00:0018.0N 145.8E65 kt976 mbTyphoon
Sep 28, 06:0018.6N 144.0E75 kt967 mbTyphoon
Sep 28, 12:0019.0N 142.1E90 kt954 mbTyphoon
Sep 28, 18:0019.4N 140.5E105 kt938 mbTyphoon
Sep 29, 00:0019.8N 138.8E120 kt922 mbTyphoon
Sep 29, 06:0020.2N 137.6E130 kt910 mbSuper typhoon
Sep 29, 12:0020.9N 136.7E135 kt904 mbSuper typhoon
Sep 29, 18:0021.5N 136.0E130 kt910 mbSuper typhoon
Sep 30, 00:0022.5N 135.8E130 kt910 mbSuper typhoon
Sep 30, 06:0023.7N 135.8E120 kt922 mbTyphoon
Sep 30, 12:0025.2N 136.1E110 kt933 mbTyphoon
Sep 30, 18:0027.1N 136.6E110 kt933 mbTyphoon
Oct 1, 00:0029.6N 137.5E110 kt933 mbTyphoon
Oct 1, 06:0032.7N 138.3E95 kt949 mbTyphoon
Oct 1, 12:0035.7N 139.8E80 kt963 mbTyphoon
Oct 1, 18:0040.6N 141.5E65 kt976 mbTyphoon
Oct 2, 00:0043.9N 141.5E55 kt984 mbTropical storm
Oct 2, 06:0046.2N 142.0E50 kt987 mbTropical storm
Oct 2, 12:0047.8N 141.6E980 mbExtratropical
Oct 2, 18:0049.9N 142.1E984 mbExtratropical
Oct 3, 00:0051.2N 144.5E984 mbExtratropical
Oct 3, 06:0051.7N 146.9E988 mbExtratropical
Oct 3, 12:0052.0N 150.6E992 mbExtratropical
Oct 3, 18:0051.9N 153.0E996 mbExtratropical
Oct 4, 00:0051.9N 155.2E1000 mbExtratropical

Other Western Pacific storms of 2002

What this means

A best track is the record a warning agency settles on after the storm, not what it said at the time: position, maximum sustained wind and central pressure every six hours, revised against every observation that came in later. Category is the Saffir-Simpson scale, which runs from Category 1 at 64 kt to Category 5 at 137 kt and reads wind only, so it says nothing about surge or rain. Accumulated cyclone energy adds up the square of the wind through the storm's life, so it counts strength and duration together.

Sources

Storm history from NOAA NCEI’s International Best Track Archive for Climate Stewardship (IBTrACS), which merges the official best track of every warning agency. Live storms, cones, watches and warnings from the National Hurricane Center and the Central Pacific Hurricane Center. Archived radar from NOAA’s Level II archive.