Typhoon Vanessa

Typhoon Vanessa, known in the Philippines as Super Typhoon Toyang, was the strongest tropical cyclone of the 1984 Pacific typhoon season and one of the most intense tropical cyclones on record. It was the twenty-second named storm, twelfth typhoon, and first super typhoon of the 1984 season.

Typhoon Vanessa (Toyang)

Vanessa at peak intensity on October 26
Meteorological history
Formed	October 22, 1984
Extratropical	October 30, 1984
Dissipated	October 30, 1984
Violent typhoon
10-minute sustained (JMA)
Highest winds	220 km/h (140 mph)
Lowest pressure	880 hPa (mbar); 25.99 inHg
Category 5-equivalent tropical cyclone
1-minute sustained (SSHWS/JTWC)
Highest winds	285 km/h (180 mph)
Lowest pressure	879 hPa (mbar); 25.96 inHg
Overall effects
Fatalities	63 total
Damage	$1.7 million
Areas affected	Caroline Islands Mariana Islands Philippines
Part of the 1984 Pacific typhoon season

Meteorological history

Map plotting the storm's track and intensity, according to the Saffir–Simpson scale

Map key

Saffir–Simpson scale

  Tropical depression (≤38 mph, ≤62 km/h)
  Tropical storm (39–73 mph, 63–118 km/h)
  Category 1 (74–95 mph, 119–153 km/h)
  Category 2 (96–110 mph, 154–177 km/h)
  Category 3 (111–129 mph, 178–208 km/h)
  Category 4 (130–156 mph, 209–251 km/h)
  Category 5 (≥157 mph, ≥252 km/h)
  Unknown

Storm type

Tropical cyclone

Subtropical cyclone

Extratropical cyclone, remnant low, tropical disturbance, or monsoon depression

A low pressure area developed from a near equatorial trough southeast of Ponape on October 20, moving northwest until being well north of the island as it slowly developed. The disturbance strengthened into a tropical depression on October 22 and a tropical storm ( receiving the name Vanessa ) on October 23. The next day, Vanessa strengthened into a minimal typhoon.^[1]

Moving west-northwest, Vanessa began to explosively intensify on October 25, becoming a super typhoon two days later. Super Typhoon Vanessa continued to intensify throughout the day, reaching its peak intensity with maximum sustained wind speeds of 180 miles per hour (290 km/h) well west of the Philippines. At its peak, it had a pressure of 880 mb, which makes it tied as the seventh most intense tropical cyclone on record, behind Ida of 1958 and only 10 millibars higher than the record-setting Typhoon Tip of 1979. Vanessa's central pressure had fallen at a near-record pace of 100 mb in 48 hours. The intense cyclone recurved to the northeast on October 27 and 28 as a cold front approached from the northwest. Vanessa slowly weakened and began to merge with the frontal boundary, becoming a storm-force extratropical cyclone late on October 30 before being absorbed by the front later that day.^[1]

Impact

Most intense Pacific typhoons

	Typhoon	Season	Pressure
			hPa	inHg
1	Tip	1979	870	25.7
2	June	1975	875	25.8
	Nora	1973
4	Forrest	1983	876[2]	25.9
5	Ida	1958	877	25.9
6	Rita	1978	878	26.0
7	Kit	1966	880	26.0
	Vanessa	1984
9	Nancy	1961	882	26.4
10	Irma	1971	884	26.1
11	Nina	1953	885	26.1
	Joan	1959
	Megi	2010
Source: JMA Typhoon Best Track Analysis Information for the North Western Pacific Ocean.[3]

As a minimal typhoon, Vanessa moved about 165 kilometres (103 mi) south of Guam, where winds gusted to 59 knots (109 km/h) on Nimitz Hill. Damage on the island totaled US$1.7 million (1984 dollars, US$4.98 million in 2023), mainly to the banana crop.^[1]

Though the storm did not directly impact the Philippines, its outer bands triggered flooding that killed 63 people.^[4]