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Why Fewer Typhoons Are Reaching Normally Hard-Hit Parts of Asia

Ralph Jennings

   TAIPEI, TAIWAN - In Taiwan, a tropical storm killed two people in
   August and a low-strength typhoon brushed the northeast coast just over
   a month later. Normally the western Pacific island gets hit head on by
   three to four typhoons ever year from June through October. Typhoons,
   which pack higher winds than other tropical storms, often kill five to
   10 people per event and destroy infrastructure.

   But for the past three years Taiwan and the Philippines, an archipelago
   to its south, have missed their historical average typhoon counts
   because of high water temperatures over the mid-Pacific where typhoons
   originate and shifts in upper-atmosphere winds, meteorologists believe.

   The Philippines can get up to 20 of the raging storms per year. The
   systems called cyclones and hurricanes in other parts of the world
   bring winds strong enough to blow down trees and rainfall that can
   quickly turn streets into rivers. They typically prompt mass
   evacuations and shut down transportation including flights.

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