The 2021 season

Super Typhoon Rai (2021)

Super Typhoon Rai reached Category 5 in the Western Pacific between December 11, 2021 and December 21, 2021, with a lowest pressure of 908 mb, and made landfall.

Track and intensity

The whole track of Super Typhoon Rai, colored by strength, with the other storms of the 2021 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
December 11, 2021 to December 21, 2021
Peak strength
Category 5, 150 kt (173 mph)
Lowest pressure
908 mb (26.81 inHg)
Landfall
Yes
Accumulated cyclone energy
25.7
Tropical-storm-force wind reached
185 nmi (343 km, 213 mi) from the center at its widest
Hurricane-force wind reached
85 nmi (157 km, 98 mi) from the center at its widest
Eyewall radius at its peak
7 nmi (13 km, 8 mi)
Overall size
270 nmi (500 km, 311 mi) to the outermost closed isobar
Peak gust in the best track
160 kt (184 mph)
Fastest the center moved
18 kt (21 mph)
Identifier
WP282021

Deaths and damage

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

Track

Time (UTC)PositionWindPressureStatus
Dec 11, 12:005.3N 145.0E20 kt1007 mbDisturbance
Dec 11, 18:005.4N 144.8E15 kt1005 mbDisturbance
Dec 12, 00:005.5N 144.6E15 kt1005 mbDisturbance
Dec 12, 06:005.7N 144.3E20 kt1004 mbDisturbance
Dec 12, 12:005.8N 144.1E25 kt1004 mbTropical depression
Dec 12, 18:005.4N 143.0E25 kt1000 mbTropical depression
Dec 13, 00:005.1N 141.9E25 kt1002 mbTropical depression
Dec 13, 06:005.5N 140.7E30 kt1001 mbTropical depression
Dec 13, 12:006.2N 139.6E35 kt1000 mbTropical storm
Dec 13, 18:006.7N 138.6E45 kt993 mbTropical storm
Dec 14, 00:007.4N 136.9E50 kt991 mbTropical storm
Dec 14, 06:008.0N 135.8E55 kt991 mbTropical storm
Dec 14, 12:008.4N 134.7E60 kt990 mbTropical storm
Dec 14, 18:008.7N 133.4E65 kt982 mbTyphoon
Dec 15, 00:008.8N 132.4E70 kt982 mbTyphoon
Dec 15, 06:009.0N 131.0E75 kt978 mbTyphoon
Dec 15, 12:009.1N 130.0E90 kt965 mbTyphoon
Dec 15, 18:009.4N 128.9E125 kt934 mbTyphoon
Dec 16, 00:009.7N 127.6E150 kt908 mbSuper typhoon
Dec 16, 06:0010.0N 125.9E135 kt925 mbSuper typhoon
Dec 16, 12:0010.2N 124.2E120 kt943 mbTyphoon
Dec 16, 18:0010.2N 122.5E110 kt951 mbTyphoon
Dec 17, 00:0010.0N 121.1E95 kt965 mbTyphoon
Dec 17, 06:0010.3N 120.0E85 kt970 mbTyphoon
Dec 17, 12:0010.4N 118.7E90 kt968 mbTyphoon
Dec 17, 18:0010.7N 117.4E90 kt966 mbTyphoon
Dec 18, 00:0011.0N 115.9E100 kt962 mbTyphoon
Dec 18, 06:0011.2N 114.7E115 kt948 mbTyphoon
Dec 18, 12:0011.9N 113.4E140 kt921 mbSuper typhoon
Dec 18, 18:0012.6N 112.2E130 kt931 mbSuper typhoon
Dec 19, 00:0013.1N 111.4E120 kt941 mbTyphoon
Dec 19, 06:0013.6N 111.1E100 kt958 mbTyphoon
Dec 19, 12:0014.8N 110.7E85 kt974 mbTyphoon
Dec 19, 18:0015.9N 110.7E75 kt983 mbTyphoon
Dec 20, 00:0017.3N 110.8E70 kt988 mbTyphoon
Dec 20, 06:0018.1N 111.5E50 kt998 mbTropical storm
Dec 20, 12:0019.0N 112.4E45 kt1001 mbTropical storm
Dec 20, 18:0019.9N 113.1E40 kt1006 mbSubtropical storm
Dec 21, 00:0020.6N 113.8E35 kt1005 mbSubtropical storm
Dec 21, 06:0021.5N 115.2E30 kt1007 mbSubtropical depression
Dec 21, 12:0021.7N 116.5E25 kt1010 mbSubtropical depression

Other Western Pacific storms of 2021

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.