The 2009 season

Super Typhoon Choi-Wan (2009)

Super Typhoon Choi-Wan reached Category 5 in the Western Pacific between September 11, 2009 and September 20, 2009, with a lowest pressure of 918 mb.

Track and intensity

The whole track of Super Typhoon Choi-Wan, colored by strength, with the other storms of the 2009 season in the same basin behind it, and its wind and pressure hour by hour. Every fix is in the track table below.

Open the live map with storms, cones and warnings

The storm

Basin
Western Pacific
Dates
September 11, 2009 to September 20, 2009
Peak strength
Category 5, 140 kt (161 mph)
Lowest pressure
918 mb (27.11 inHg)
Landfall
No; closest approach 517 km (321 mi)
Accumulated cyclone energy
33.8
Tropical-storm-force wind reached
230 nmi (426 km, 265 mi) from the center at its widest
Hurricane-force wind reached
105 nmi (194 km, 121 mi) from the center at its widest
Eyewall radius at its peak
15 nmi (28 km, 17 mi)
Overall size
650 nmi (1204 km, 748 mi) to the outermost closed isobar
Peak gust in the best track
110 kt (127 mph)
Fastest the center moved
36 kt (41 mph)
Identifier
WP152009

Deaths and damage

The sources count different things and are not added together.

NOAA Storm Events

0 deaths (0 direct, 0 indirect)$30,000

What National Weather Service offices recorded county by county in 1 states and marine areas, in the United States only. Property and crop damage as each office estimated it, which is not a national loss total.

In the United States

NOAA’s Storm Events database, the record National Weather Service offices compile months after a storm, as compiled March 2026.

Deaths
0 (0 direct, 0 indirect)
Injuries
1
Property damage
$20,000
Crop damage
$10,000
Events recorded
1 in 1 reports from 1 states and marine areas

State by state

State or marine areaDeathsInjuriesDamageEvents
Guam01$30,0001

What was recorded

1 hurricane (typhoon).

Track

Time (UTC)PositionWindPressureStatus
Sep 11, 12:0013.4N 155.0E15 kt1008 mbDisturbance
Sep 11, 18:0014.0N 154.3E20 kt1007 mbDisturbance
Sep 12, 00:0014.6N 153.6E25 kt1004 mbTropical depression
Sep 12, 06:0015.2N 152.9E25 kt1003 mbTropical depression
Sep 12, 12:0015.3N 151.8E30 kt1000 mbTropical depression
Sep 12, 18:0015.6N 150.7E40 kt993 mbTropical storm
Sep 13, 00:0015.7N 149.9E45 kt989 mbTropical storm
Sep 13, 06:0015.7N 149.3E50 kt985 mbTropical storm
Sep 13, 12:0015.6N 148.8E60 kt978 mbTropical storm
Sep 13, 18:0015.4N 148.4E65 kt974 mbTyphoon
Sep 14, 00:0015.7N 148.1E75 kt967 mbTyphoon
Sep 14, 06:0015.9N 147.8E85 kt959 mbTyphoon
Sep 14, 12:0016.3N 147.5E115 kt937 mbTyphoon
Sep 14, 18:0016.6N 147.0E130 kt926 mbSuper typhoon
Sep 15, 00:0017.2N 146.5E130 kt926 mbSuper typhoon
Sep 15, 06:0017.6N 145.7E130 kt926 mbSuper typhoon
Sep 15, 12:0017.9N 145.0E135 kt922 mbSuper typhoon
Sep 15, 18:0018.2N 144.2E140 kt918 mbSuper typhoon
Sep 16, 00:0018.6N 143.4E140 kt918 mbSuper typhoon
Sep 16, 06:0019.0N 142.6E140 kt918 mbSuper typhoon
Sep 16, 12:0019.2N 141.9E140 kt918 mbSuper typhoon
Sep 16, 18:0019.6N 141.4E140 kt918 mbSuper typhoon
Sep 17, 00:0020.4N 140.9E130 kt926 mbSuper typhoon
Sep 17, 06:0021.0N 140.3E125 kt929 mbTyphoon
Sep 17, 12:0021.7N 139.7E120 kt933 mbTyphoon
Sep 17, 18:0022.5N 139.3E115 kt937 mbTyphoon
Sep 18, 00:0023.2N 138.9E110 kt941 mbTyphoon
Sep 18, 06:0024.1N 138.8E100 kt948 mbTyphoon
Sep 18, 12:0025.2N 139.1E100 kt948 mbTyphoon
Sep 18, 18:0026.4N 139.5E95 kt952 mbTyphoon
Sep 19, 00:0027.6N 140.2E90 kt956 mbTyphoon
Sep 19, 06:0029.0N 141.4E80 kt963 mbTyphoon
Sep 19, 12:0030.6N 143.2E75 kt967 mbTyphoon
Sep 19, 18:0032.3N 145.1E75 kt967 mbTyphoon
Sep 20, 00:0033.9N 146.8E65 kt974 mbTyphoon
Sep 20, 06:0035.1N 149.3E60 kt978 mbExtratropical
Sep 20, 12:0036.8N 152.3E986 mbExtratropical
Sep 20, 18:0038.8N 156.1E990 mbExtratropical

Other Western Pacific storms of 2009

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.