User:Iune/2002

The 2002 Pacific typhoon season had no official bounds; it ran year-round in 2002, 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 date line and north of the equator are called hurricanes; see 2002 Pacific hurricane season. Tropical Storms formed in the entire west Pacific basin are assigned a name by the Tokyo Typhoon Center. Tropical depressions in this basin have the "W" suffix added to their number. Tropical depressions that enter or form in the Philippine area of responsibility are assigned a name by the Philippine Atmospheric, Geophysical and Astronomical Services Administration or PAGASA. This can often result in the same storm having two names.

Storms
In storm information below, wind-speed advisories differ from the Joint Typhoon Warning Center (JTWC) to the JMA as the JTWC uses the United States criteria of 1-minute mean to designate maximum sustained winds, while the JMA uses the 10-minute mean wind criteria to designate tropical cyclone maximum sustained winds. This difference generally results in JTWC maximum winds appearing higher than the maximum winds described by the JMA for the same cyclone. Most of the 31 cyclones that developed this year either remained out at sea or were weak at landfall.

Typhoon Mitag (Basyang)
In Micronesia, one person was killed and caused $150 million in damages

Tropical Depression 03W (Caloy)
When Tropical Depression 03W crossed the southern and central Philippines on March 21 and 22nd, it caused 35 casualties and $1.7 million in damage.

Typhoon Chataan (Gloria)
Chataan killed 55 and $59.8 million in damage between Chuuk and Guam, making it the first typhoon to hit the area since Typhoon Paka in 1997.

Tropical Storm 13W (Juan)
Damage in the Philippines was estimated at $25 Million with Juan causing 18 Deaths.

Severe Tropical Storm Kammuri (Lagalag)
107 people died because of Kammuri and the direct economic losses are estimated at 4.219 billion yuan. The reported number of collapsed houses was 20,182.

Typhoon Rusa
When 80 mi/h Typhoon Rusa, which peaked at 135 mi/h winds earlier in its lifetime, hit South Korea, it caused torrential flooding, causing 113 casualties (with 71 missing) and nearly $6 billion in damage (2002 USD).

Tropical Storm Changmi
On the afternoon of September 15, the JTWC noted that an area of thunderstorms had developed about 155 miles (255 km) north-northeast of Chuuk. Satellite imagery showed weak pulsing thunderstorm activity associated with a possible low-level circulation center (LLC). In addition, vertical wind shear was noted as moderate. On September 17, the LLC was relocated to 380 miles (610 km) east-northeast of Guam. Pulsing deep convection was noted with a LLC that was embedded in the monsoon trough. The next afternoon, the JTWC issued a Tropical Cyclone Formation Alert (TCFA) as the system as deep convection had increased.

At the same time, the JMA began monitoring the system as a tropical depression. However, they placed the LLC 115 miles (185 km) southwest of the JTWC position. As the storm moved northward, the JTWC center became fully-exposed and the JMA center became the dominant LLC. Subsequently, the JTWC canceled the TCFA during the morning of September 19 as the two circulation centers were merging. The same afternoon, the JMA also downgraded the depression into an area of low pressure.

The weak low pressure area continued to move northwards as the JTWC noted on September 21 that multiple exposed circulation centers were located south of an area of deep thunderstorm activity. Later that morning, the JTWC issued another TCFA as deep convection was increasing in association with a LLC 290 miles (465 km) northwest of Iwo Jima. At the same time, the JMA re-upgraded the low pressure area into a weak tropical depression. However, the vertical wind shear was noted as increasing as the storm was interacting with the mid-latitude flow.

Despite this, the JMA abruptly upgraded the depression to a 45 mph (70 km/h) tropical storm and gave it the name "Changmi" early on September 22. Despite the upgrade, the JTWC again canceled the TCFA as extensive dry entrainment was indicative of a developing extratropical cyclone. The JMA however reported that Changmi had reached its peak intensity while tropical of 50 mph (80 km/h).

Early on September 23, the JMA reported that Changmi had become extratropical while 345 miles (555 km) east of Tokyo. The extratropical cyclone continued to move northwestward, eventually gaining hurricane-force winds. The last bulletin on the cyclone was issued on September 25 with the cyclone having winds of 75 mph (120 km/h) and a minimum pressure of 958 mbar (hPa) while located in the Bering Sea.

Typhoon Higos
9 deaths and widespread flooding can be attributed to Higos.

Typhoon Pongsona
Typhoon Pongsona was the last typhoon of the season, and was the costliest disaster in 2002 in the United States.

Considered by some to be the worst typhoon to have struck Guam, Pongsona produced strong wind gusts peaking at 278 km/h (173 mph), which left the entire island without power and destroyed about 1,300 houses. With strong building standards and experience from repeated typhoon strikes, there were no fatalities directly related to Pongsona, though there was one indirect death from flying glass. Damage on the island totaled over $700 million (2002 USD, $800 million 2007 USD), making Pongsona among the five costliest typhoons on the island. The typhoon also caused heavy damage on Rota and elsewhere in the Northern Marianas Islands, and as a result of its impact, the name was retired.

International names
Western North Pacific tropical cyclones are named by the RSMC Tokyo-Typhoon Center of the Japan Meteorological Agency. Names are selected from the following sequential list, there is no annual list. Names were contributed by 13 members of the ESCAP/WMO Typhoon Committee, except for Singapore. The 13 nations or territories, along with Micronesia, each submitted 10 names, which are used in alphabetical order by the English name of the country. The first storm of 2002 was named Tapah and the final one was named Pongsona.

In addition to the 26 storms named by the JMA, Hurricanes Ele and Huko moved into the Western Pacific from the Central Pacific; keeping their names and gaining the designations 0217 and 0224.

Philippines
The Philippine Atmospheric, Geophysical and Astronomical Services Administration (PAGASA) uses its own naming scheme for tropical cyclones within its area of responsibility. Lists are recycled every four years.

Retirement
The names Chataan, Rusa, and Pongsona were retired after this year. They were replaced with Matmo, Nuri, and Noul.