The world's most active tropical cyclone basin - the Western North Pacific region - was hit by 26 named storms, of which 13 intensified into typhoons in 2024, with devastating impacts on people's lives and livelihoods and underlining the importance of early warning systems.
Lessons learned from 2024 and preparations for the forthcoming season were top of the agenda at the annual session of the Typhoon Committee, a joint body of the UN Economic and Social Commission for Asia Pacific and the World Meteorological Organization. It concluded its annual session on 20 February with renewed commitment to reinforce collaboration and strengthen regional resilience.
The Philippines - which hosted the session in Manila - was hit by an extraordinary six tropical storms in only five weeks in 2024, resulting in over 100 fatalities and agricultural losses exceeding 7 billion Philippines Pesos (US$ 120 million). Although it was an average season as a whole, November was the most active month on record for the region.
"Typhoons vividly demonstrate the devastating impacts of extremes in extreme weather-disrupting lives, damaging infrastructure, and hard-testing our resilience," Cyrille Honoré, Director of Disaster Risk Reduction and the Multi-Hazard Early Warning Systems Office at WMO, told the opening of the Typhoon Committee .
"These challenges emphasize the critical need for collective responsibility and collaboration in disaster preparedness, response, and recovery. Working together at all scales, with as broadened partnerships as possible, we can better protect our communities, our economies, and our environment. Through our collective expertise and action, we can create a safer and more resilient future for all," said Mr Honoré.
Early Warnings For All
Tropical cyclones are one of the major hazards targeted by Early Warnings For All , which seeks to reach everyone in the world by the end of 2027. Regional leadership and national ownership are key to the success of this ambitious international initiative.
Accurate forecasts and early warnings and coordinated disaster risk reduction strategies have made huge strides to reducing the casualty toll from tropical cyclones, but economic exposure continues to rise.
As the challenges increase, so do the opportunities. Promising developments, from earth observation and communication technologies to Artificial Intelligence offer hope of new tools to mitigate adverse impacts of typhoons and tropical cyclones worldwide.
WMO oversees a network of five regional committees for each tropical cyclone basin . The Typhoon Committee is an intergovernmental body of 14 Members, established under the joint auspices of WMO and ESCAP . It covers the Western North Pacific and the Tokyo Typhoon Center acts as the WMO Regional Specialized Meteorological Centre (RSMC).
It was the first time in 19 years that the Philippines has hosted the annual session, said DOST-PAGASA Administrator Nathaniel Servando , Permanent Representative of Philippines with WMO. and Chair of the Typhoon Committee
"This session of the Typhoon Committee is a crucial platform for us to reaffirm our commitment to turning policies into concrete actionable solutions. As weather-related extremes become increasingly become more complex and unpredictable - exacerbated by climate change and phenomena like El Nino and La Nina - our collective efforts must become more collaborative and multi-faceted," said DOST Secretary Renato U. Solidum, Jr.
Committee Decisions
The Typhoon Committee reviewed the key impacts of tropical cyclones on its Members in 2024 and assessed the initiatives and activities under the Typhoon Committee Strategic Plan 2022-2026 to be pursued to mitigate future impacts.
The recommendations of its four working groups-Meteorology, Hydrology, Disaster Risk Reduction, and Training and Research- aligned with the UN Early Warning for All Initiative, were subsequently approved.
Additionally, the annual budget to support these activities was endorsed. The Typhoon Committee Operational Plan, which outlines the regional operational coordination mechanism, has been updated.
The Committee also agreed on the way forward for developing its Strategic Plan for 2027-2031.
The Committee noted the requests to retire the names of EWINIAR, YAGI (also by China), Krathon, Trami, Kong-Rey, Toraji, Usagi and Man-Yi because of the death and destruction they caused in 2024.
The Committee requested the countries which provided those names to provide replacement names which will be agreed upon at the next annual session of the Typhoon Committee.
Names are listed by alphabetic order of the country names in the Western Pacific.
WMO maintains rotating lists of names for each tropical cyclone basin in the interests of public safety and to warn of impending hazards. If a cyclone is particularly deadly or costly, then its name is retired and replaced by another one.
