User:HurricaneParrot/sandbox/1938 Pacific typhoon season

The 1938 Pacific typhoon season has no official bounds; it ran year-round in 1938, but most tropical cyclones tend to form in the northwestern Pacific Ocean between May and November. These dates conventionally delimit the period of each year when most tropical cyclones form in the northwestern Pacific Ocean.

The scope of this article is limited to the Pacific Ocean, north of the equator, and west of the international date line. Storms that form east of the dateline and north of the equator are called hurricanes; see 1938 Pacific hurricane season. Due to the lack of satellites and ship reports due to the Pacific Theatre of World War II, it is possible other tropical cyclones existed, especially if they were short-lived or of minor intensity. All pieces of information about the systems in this season was heavily based on some weather maps.

There were 31 total storms formed in the season, with 10 of these storms becoming typhoons. A typhoon in December became the deadliest, killing over 305 individuals and the strongest was another typhoon that almost made landfall in Japan, but recurved to the Pacific Ocean during mid-October.

January-June
On January 11, a tropical depression was first spotted near the Philippines. It then moved to the west-northwest, hitting the country near the coastline of Aurora on the next day. It dissipated inland on January 13.

Three months later, a possible tropical depression was detected in weather maps near Palau on April 1. It moved sharply to the west, crossing through southern Visayas on April 3 before dissipating, two days later on Suluthe Sea.

On April 4, a tropical depression was spotted on weather maps. It then turned to the north, before taking a northwestward motion as it strengthened to a tropical storm on April 7. It started to rapidly intensify as it approached the Philippines, becoming a typhoon on the next day. However, it recurved to the east of the country before becoming extratropical on April 12. It dissipated on the next day.

On April 27, another tropical depression was detected in weather maps, north of Palau. It then crossed the Philippines without any development, starting from near Dumaguete on April 29 before exiting the archipelago near Occidental Mindoro as it moved northwestward on the next day. A ridge of high pressure turned the system to the west as it strengthened with winds of gale-force before becoming a typhoon on May 3. It turned slightly to the northwest before making landfall near Swatow (present-day Shantou) on the next day before weakening below typhoon force. The IBTrACS website has the last known location of the storm at this time. It then turned to the north, before making a northwestward track, exiting Mainland China on May 5 before weakening to a tropical depression shortly. It then became unidentifiable on weather maps by the next day near Korea. No reports of damages and deaths were recorded in the Philippines, while British Hong Kong recorded a minimum barometric pressure of 1000.71 hPa (29.551 inHg) on May 3.

By May 8, a tropical depression was detected near Leyte before crossing near the province that day. It then moved to the northwest, through some provinces of Visayas and Luzon before turning to the northeast as it moved through the Philippine Sea near Cagayan Province on May 11. There, it took a southward and again, northeastward move before intensifying with gale-force winds on May 13. It passed near the Daitō Islands that day and the next before accelerating near Japan while slowing down. The IBTrACS website has the last location of the system at this time. It was last noted on May 18 on weather maps as it was likely absorbed by a front.

A possible tropical depression existed in the South China Sea on June 16. It made a clockwise motion before dissipating on June 19, remaining far away from any landmasses and below gale-force winds.

A tropical depression formed on June 19 to the west of Guam. It made a westward motion while gradually strengthening, being estimated as a tropical storm on June 21. as it turned northwestwards. It then turned westwards again, while slowly strengthening before turning northwards, before weakening below gale-force winds on June 24, while approaching Formosa. It dissipated on June 26, a short distance to the south-southeast of the country.

By June 21, another tropical depression was spotted in weather maps to the east of the Philippines, or northwest of another system that formed, two days back. It made an erratic track while remaining ill in circulation; to the north, then northwestwards, westwards, northwestwards again before strengthening to a tropical storm on the same time, by June 24. It then curved to the west-southwest before intensifying to a typhoon, on the next day. However, a cold front weakened the system back to a tropical storm on June 27 as it continued southwestwards. Guided by that front, it restrengthened to a typhoon while becoming asymmetrical before passing to the south of Japan on that day and the next before turning north-northwestwards, away from the country. It then remained a typhoon while passing through the Kuril Islands before hitting the coast near Severo-Kurilsk on July 1. It executed a small clockwise loop while leaving the coast of the town before disappearing and becoming extratropical on July 4. It caused a great destruction while the typhoon is passing near Japan, with the newspapers there recording over 100 fatalities and an unknown number of missing. The lowest barometric pressure reported on the system was in the Nansei Islands, with 998.87 hPa (29.488 inHg). Floods and landslides were also recorded, and railway tracks were washed out. In the Philippines, the predecessor of the typhoon killed 3 individuals, all due to unknown reasons.

July
On July 6, a tropical depression was seen in weather maps to the southeast of Colonia, Yap. It moved to the north, before curving southward and westwards without any change in intensity. It then moved northwestwards before disappearing on July 14 while crossing the coast of Luzon. No damages and deaths were reported.

On the same day, a tropical depression formed in the South China Sea, south of Hong Kong. It moved to the south-southeast, before curving northwards, where it strengthened to a tropical storm on the next day. It was believed that the system intensified further to a minimal typhoon that day before rapidly weakening and dissipating on July 8, still to the south of Hong Kong. No landmasses were affected as the system stayed away from land.

A well-established tropical depression developed to the east of Visayas on July 9. It moved to the northeast before turning northeastward while slowing down. It then dissipated on July 14, having not intensified to a tropical storm in its lifetime.

Another tropical depression formed on July 14. The depression was first noted, nearly 277 miles to the south-southeast of Guam. It moved west-northwestward before strengthening to a typhoon on the next day. The system then absorbed a weak tropical depression to its north before turning westwards.

A poor-defined stationary tropical depression was noted on weather maps on July 15, near another system before merging with the latter later that day.