The 2020 season

Typhoon Vongfong (2020)

Typhoon Vongfong reached Category 3 in the Western Pacific between May 8, 2020 and May 18, 2020, with a lowest pressure of 961 mb, and made landfall. It killed 5 people, as Wikidata records it.

Track and intensity

The whole track of Typhoon Vongfong, colored by strength, with the other storms of the 2020 season in the same basin behind it, and its wind and pressure hour by hour. Every fix is in the track table below.

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The storm

Basin
Western Pacific
Dates
May 8, 2020 to May 18, 2020
Peak strength
Category 3, 100 kt (115 mph)
Lowest pressure
961 mb (28.38 inHg)
Landfall
Yes
Accumulated cyclone energy
7.4
Tropical-storm-force wind reached
100 nmi (185 km, 115 mi) from the center at its widest
Hurricane-force wind reached
20 nmi (37 km, 23 mi) from the center at its widest
Eyewall radius at its peak
5 nmi (9 km, 6 mi)
Overall size
190 nmi (352 km, 219 mi) to the outermost closed isobar
Fastest the center moved
34 kt (39 mph)
Identifier
WP012020

Radar at RODN as it neared land, May 18, 06:00 UTC

Deaths and damage

The sources count different things and are not added together.

Wikidata

5 deathsno damage figure

A community-maintained total, usually direct and indirect deaths together and damage worldwide. Joined to this storm by its IBTrACS serial, not by name.

Track

Time (UTC)PositionWindPressureStatus
May 8, 06:007.2N 133.9E15 kt1009 mbDisturbance
May 8, 12:007.2N 133.9E15 kt1009 mbDisturbance
May 8, 18:006.8N 133.5E15 kt1008 mbDisturbance
May 9, 00:006.5N 133.2E15 kt1008 mbDisturbance
May 9, 06:006.5N 132.8E15 kt1007 mbDisturbance
May 9, 12:006.8N 132.4E15 kt1007 mbDisturbance
May 9, 18:007.0N 132.0E20 kt1006 mbDisturbance
May 10, 00:007.3N 131.5E20 kt1006 mbDisturbance
May 10, 06:007.7N 130.8E20 kt1006 mbDisturbance
May 10, 12:008.0N 130.4E20 kt1006 mbDisturbance
May 10, 18:008.2N 130.1E20 kt1006 mbDisturbance
May 11, 00:008.5N 129.8E20 kt1006 mbDisturbance
May 11, 06:008.8N 129.5E20 kt1006 mbDisturbance
May 11, 12:009.1N 129.1E20 kt1006 mbDisturbance
May 11, 18:009.6N 128.9E25 kt1004 mbTropical depression
May 12, 00:0010.3N 129.1E30 kt1003 mbTropical depression
May 12, 06:0010.9N 129.7E30 kt1002 mbTropical depression
May 12, 12:0011.4N 129.7E35 kt1003 mbTropical storm
May 12, 18:0011.7N 129.2E50 kt996 mbTropical storm
May 13, 00:0011.9N 128.9E60 kt992 mbTropical storm
May 13, 06:0012.0N 128.5E65 kt985 mbTyphoon
May 13, 12:0012.1N 127.9E90 kt970 mbTyphoon
May 13, 18:0012.1N 127.0E100 kt961 mbTyphoon
May 14, 00:0012.1N 126.2E95 kt966 mbTyphoon
May 14, 06:0012.2N 125.3E100 kt962 mbTyphoon
May 14, 12:0012.3N 124.6E85 kt974 mbTyphoon
May 14, 18:0012.5N 123.6E65 kt987 mbTyphoon
May 15, 00:0013.3N 122.7E65 kt987 mbTyphoon
May 15, 06:0014.0N 122.0E60 kt990 mbTropical storm
May 15, 12:0015.2N 121.5E55 kt993 mbTropical storm
May 15, 18:0016.2N 121.1E40 kt1001 mbTropical storm
May 16, 00:0018.0N 120.0E40 kt998 mbTropical storm
May 16, 06:0018.7N 120.0E25 kt1005 mbTropical depression
May 16, 12:0019.2N 120.3E20 kt1006 mbDisturbance
May 16, 18:0020.3N 120.5E20 kt1005 mbDisturbance
May 17, 00:0020.6N 120.2E15 kt1006 mbDisturbance
May 17, 06:0021.2N 120.7E15 kt1007 mbDisturbance
May 17, 12:0021.7N 122.1E1004 mbTropical storm
May 17, 18:0022.1N 123.1E1002 mbTropical storm
May 18, 00:0022.6N 124.4E1004 mbTropical storm
May 18, 06:0024.4N 127.0E1002 mbTropical storm

Other Western Pacific storms of 2020

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.