Typhoon Season by Destination

Over the last 50 seasons typhoons came closest to Tokyo in August and September, to Hong Kong in July and August, to Manila in October and Boracay in December. Cyclones came to Fiji’s Nadi from November to May, to Cairns from December to April and to Mauritius from December to March, over the last 35.

How to use it

Pick where you are going: 29 places in Japan, South Korea, Taiwan, Hong Kong, Macau, Shanghai, the Philippines, Vietnam, Guam and Saipan, and 25 in Fiji, French Polynesia, the Cook Islands, Samoa, Tonga, Vanuatu, New Caledonia, Australia, Bali, Mauritius, Réunion, Madagascar, the Seychelles, the Maldives, Sri Lanka and India. North of the equator in the Pacific, the answer is the month the storms came closest most often, and the months when none ever did; for the other places, the months they came and the busiest one. Pick a month to see its count, the latest storms by name and the calmest places that month; add the day your trip starts and how many days it lasts to see those exact dates, and the calmest dates within four weeks either way.

How it is counted

For each of the last 50 seasons (1975 to 2024), the tool asks one question: did the centre of a tropical storm or a typhoon pass within 100 miles of the place? The tracks are NOAA’s IBTrACS best tracks for the western North Pacific, followed hour by hour between their three-hourly points. How strong each storm was is the Japan Meteorological Agency’s record, the basin’s official agency: its grades from tropical storm to typhoon count, and depressions and storms that had turned extratropical do not. A season counts once in a month however many storms came. It is the rule of the Hurricane Risk calculator, so a typhoon here and a hurricane there are counted alike. 2025 is not in yet: IBTrACS still marks it provisional.

South of the equator and around the Indian Ocean the same question is asked of the last 35 seasons, in each ocean’s own words: a tropical cyclone off Australia and in the South Pacific, a tropical storm or cyclone in the South-West Indian Ocean, a cyclonic storm around India. South of the equator a season runs from July to June (1989–90 to 2023–24), so a storm at New Year counts once, in the season it started in; around India, Sri Lanka and the Maldives it is the calendar year (1990 to 2024). The tracks are IBTrACS again, and the strength is the record of the WMO’s agency for that ocean: RSMC Nadi and TCWC Wellington in the South Pacific, the Bureau of Meteorology off Australia, RSMC La Réunion (Météo-France) in the South-West Indian Ocean and RSMC New Delhi (the India Meteorological Department) north of the equator. A storm counts from 34 knots of wind, the dark part of a bar from 64 knots. The count starts in 1990 because these agencies’ records leave dozens of earlier storms without a wind speed.

Worked examples

Okinawa for a week from August 10. A tropical storm or typhoon came within 100 miles on those dates in 5 of 50 seasons. The calmest week within four weeks is Jul 13–19, 3 of 50.

Tokyo in September. 14 of 50 seasons, 8 of them a typhoon; the latest were Faxai 2019, Trami 2018, Man-yi 2013, Jelawat 2012.

Boracay at Christmas. The Philippines’ central islands have their season late: December had a storm within 100 miles in 16 of 50 seasons, when Japan’s is long over.

Fiji over New Year. Ten days in Nadi from December 26: a tropical cyclone came within 100 miles on those dates in 0 of 35 seasons, though January as a whole had one in 4 of 35. Past seasons give the odds, not a promise.

Mauritius in February. The island’s busiest month: 8 of 35 seasons, 5 of them a tropical cyclone; the latest that month was Eleanor 2024.

Common mistakes

• Reading it as a forecast. It counts the past 50 seasons. When you travel, follow the Japan Meteorological Agency, PAGASA, the Hong Kong Observatory, the Fiji Meteorological Service, the Bureau of Meteorology, Météo-France La Réunion, the India Meteorological Department or your destination’s own weather service.
• One season for the whole region. Japan’s peaks in August and September; the central Philippines’ in November and December.
• Northern months south of the equator. There the season turns round: cyclones came to Nadi from November to May, when Japan has none. Around India it comes twice: to Chennai in May and June and from October to December.
• Thinking 100 miles is the only reach. A typhoon farther away still brings rain, rough seas and cancelled ferries and flights.
• Counting a clear month as safe for ever. “No storm in any season” means none in these 50, not that one cannot come.

Plan the trip

Read the Japan travel guide for first-timers and pack with the Japan packing list; for the islands, the iconic beaches of the Philippines and things to do in Palawan; then Vietnam from north to south and why people go to Guam. South of the equator, compare Bora Bora, Fiji and Tahiti and read what people go to Fiji for; around the Indian Ocean, the Maldives on a budget, Mauritius against Bali and Chennai; in Australia’s north, things to do in Darwin. For the weather of each month, see When to Go.