1997 Pacific typhoon season

1997 Pacific typhoon season
Season summary map
Seasonal boundaries
First system formed	January 19, 1997
Last system dissipated	December 23, 1997
Strongest storm
Name	Ivan and Joan
• Maximum winds	295 km/h (185 mph) (1-minute sustained)
• Lowest pressure	905 hPa (mbar)
Seasonal statistics
Total depressions	47
Total storms	29
Typhoons	16
Super typhoons	11 (unofficial) (record high tied with 1965)
Total fatalities	4,036 total
Total damage	> $4.977 billion (1997 USD)
Related articles
1997 Atlantic hurricane season 1997 Pacific hurricane season 1997 North Indian Ocean cyclone season
Pacific typhoon seasons 1995, 1996, 1997, 1998, 1999

The 1997 Pacific typhoon season was a record-breaking season featuring 11 tropical cyclones reaching super typhoon intensity, tying the record with 1965 with the most violent tropical cyclones globally, and was the ninth and last consecutive year of above-average tropical cyclone activity that started in 1989. Its extremely high activity produced a total of 570 ACE index, which is the highest ever index recorded in a single tropical cyclone season. In addition, this season had 10 Saffir-Simpson Category 5-equivalent tropical cyclones, the most ever recorded, even greater than the 2005 Atlantic hurricane season, which had nearly half of the amount. The 1997–98 El Niño event was a contributing factor to this unusually high activity. Despite this, the season produced an average number of tropical storms, spawning 29 tropical storms.

It has no official bounds; it ran year-round in 1997, but most tropical cyclones tend to form in the northwestern Pacific Ocean between May and November.^[1] These dates conventionally delimit the period of each year when most tropical cyclones form in the northwestern Pacific Ocean. The first named storm, Hannah, developed on January 20 while the last named storm, Paka, dissipated on December 23. Tropical Storm Linda became the worst tropical cyclone to hit Vietnam, killing over 3,000 people

The scope of this article is limited to the Pacific Ocean, north of the equator and west of the International Date Line. Storms that form east of the Date Line and north of the equator are called hurricanes; see 1997 Pacific hurricane season. Tropical Storms formed in the entire west Pacific basin were assigned a name by the Joint Typhoon Warning Center. Tropical depressions in this basin have the "W" suffix added to their number. Tropical depressions that enter or form in the Philippine area of responsibility are assigned a name by the Philippine Atmospheric, Geophysical and Astronomical Services Administration or PAGASA. This can often result in the same storm having two names.