Overview of Tropical Cyclones in May 2015

Overview of Tropical Cyclones in May 2015

 

        Two tropical cyclones occurred over the western North Pacific in May 2015.

        Noul formed as a tropical depression over the western North Pacific about 360 km east of Yap on the night of 3 May. It developed into a tropical storm the following morning and moved slowly westwards. Skirting past Yap on 6 May, Noul took on a west-northwesterly track towards the seas east of Luzon and continued to intensify. It developed into a super typhoon on the night of 9 May and reached its peak intensity the following morning with an estimated sustained winds of 220 km/h near its centre. After moving across the seas near the northeastern part of Luzon on the night of 10 May, Noul gradually turned northeastwards and started to weaken. It finally became an extratropical cyclone after sweeping past the Ryukyu Islands on the morning of 12 May.

        Dolphin formed as a tropical depression over the western North Pacific about 2 170 km east-southeast of Guam on the morning of 8 May and generally moved northwards in the following three days. Dolphin started to turn west-northwestwards on 11 May and intensified gradually. It skirted past Guam on 15 May and became a super typhoon the following day, reaching its peak intensity with an estimated sustained winds of 205 km/h near its centre. It turned northeastwards and weakened gradually in the next three days. Dolphin eventually evolved into an extratropical cyclone over the sea areas northeast of Iwo Jima on the afternoon of 20 May.