The 2018 Pacific typhoon season was formerly the costliest Pacific typhoon season on record before being surpassed by the following year and 2023. The season had no official boundaries, and storms can form year-round. Despite this, activity usually peaks between May and November. The season featured above-average activity, with 29 named storms, 13 typhoons, and 7 super typhoons forming in the West Pacific. The season's first named storm, Bolaven, developed on January 3, while the season's last named storm, Man-yi, dissipated on November 28. The season's first typhoon, Jelawat, reached typhoon status on March 29, eventually becoming the first super typhoon the next day.
This timeline documents all of the events of the 2018 Pacific typhoon season. Most of the tropical cyclones form between May and November. The scope of this article is limited to the Pacific Ocean, north of the equator between 100°E and the International Date Line. The Japan Meteorological Agency (JMA) is the official Regional Specialized Meteorological Centre for the Western Pacific Basin. As such, it is responsible for assigning names to all tropical cyclones that reach 10-minute maximum sustained winds of at least in the region. The Joint Typhoon Warning Center (JTWC) also monitors systems in the Western Pacific Basin, assigning systems a number with a "W" suffix if the system is a tropical depression or stronger. PAGASA also assigns local names to tropical depressions or stronger storms that form within or enter their area of responsibility, regardless if the JMA has assigned the cyclone a name; however, these names are not in common use outside of PAGASA's area of responsibility. In this season, 21 systems entered or formed in the Philippine Area of Responsibility (PAR), of which 7 of them made landfall over the Philippines.
Timeline
January January 1 00:00 UTC The 2018 Pacific typhoon season officially begins, with an active tropical depression near the Caroline Islands, a holdover from the 2017 Pacific typhoon season. (08:00 PHT) at The PAGASA names the tropical depression as Agaton as it traverses westward towards Mindanao. 06:00 UTC at The JMA assesses Agaton has deepened to its minimum central pressure of before slightly rising again. 12:00 UTC at The JTWC begins tracking Agaton, designating it 01W. Before 15:00 UTC (23:00 PHT) at 01W (Agaton) makes its first landfall on Claver, Surigao del Norte. 21:00 UTC (05:00 PHT, January 2) at 01W (Agaton) makes its second landfall on the southern portion of Cebu.
January 2 00:00 UTC (08:00 PHT) at 01W (Agaton) emerges over the Sulu Sea after making its third landfall on Negros Island. Around 14:00 UTC (22:00 PHT) at 01W (Agaton) makes its fourth and final landfall on Aborlan, Palawan.
January 3 00:00 UTC At The JMA upgrades 01W (Agaton) to a tropical storm, assigning it the name Bolaven, estimating it has peaked in intensity with 10-minute maximum sustained winds of and a minimum central pressure of . At The JTWC also upgrades Bolaven (Agaton) to a tropical storm, with 1-minute sustained winds of and a minimum central pressure of . (08:00 PHT) at PAGASA follows suit, upgrading Bolaven (Agaton) to a tropical storm, with 10-minute sustained winds of and a minimum central pressure of . Around 06:00 UTC (14:00 PHT) at PAGASA reports Bolaven (Agaton) has exited the PAR. 12:00 UTC at The JTWC downgrades Bolaven to a tropical depression as it traverses west-northwest over the South China Sea.
January 4 00:00 UTC at The JMA also downgrades Bolaven to a tropical depression as it nears Vietnam. 06:00 UTC At The JMA last notes Tropical Depression Bolaven as it dissipates while moving westward, with the system fully dissipating six hours later. At The JTWC last notes Bolaven as the system had weakened to a tropical disturbance.
February February 8 00:00 UTC at The JMA marks a tropical depression near Chuuk State. 06:00 UTC at The JMA assesses that the tropical depression near Chuuk has attained a central pressure of before slightly rising again. 18:00 UTC at The tropical depression near Chuuk re-attained a central pressure of as it turns to the west-southwest.
February 9 06:00 UTC at The tropical depression's central pressure continues to fluctuate as it slightly deepens to while moving to the southeast of Guam. 18:00 UTC at The tropical depression's central pressure slightly deepens to after a brief rise while located south of Guam.
February 10 12:00 UTC at The JTWC designates the tropical depression now east of Palau as 02W.
February 11 00:00 UTC at The JTWC upgrades 02W to a tropical storm. 06:00 UTC at The JMA upgrades 02W to a tropical storm, assigning it the name Sanba, assessing it has peaked in intensity with 10-minute winds of and a minimum central pressure of while moving towards Palau. Around 11:00 UTC (19:00 PHT)PAGASA reports Sanba has entered the PAR and assigned the system Basyang with the agency assessing it with 10-minute winds of and a minimum central pressure of . 12:00 UTC at The JTWC assesses that Sanba (Basyang) has peaked in intensity, with 1-minute winds of and a minimum central pressure of as the system is about to hit Palau. Between 12:00 - 13:00 UTC (21:00 - 22:00 PWT) at Tropical Storm Sanba (Basyang) hits the island of Peleliu in southern Palau.
February 12 18:00 UTC at The JTWC assesses Sanba (Basyang)'s central pressure slightly deepens to as it moves west-northwestwards towards northeastern Mindanao.
February 13 00:00 UTC (08:00 PHT) at PAGASA downgrades Sanba (Basyang) to a tropical depression as it is about to make landfall. Between 00:00 - 03:00 UTC (08:00 - 11:00 PHT) at and Tropical Storm Sanba (Basyang) crosses the southern portion of Bucas Grande Island before making landfall on Placer, Surigao del Norte. 06:00 UTC At The JMA also downgrades Sanba (Basyang) to a tropical depression as it emerges over the Bohol Sea. At The JTWC also downgrades Sanba (Basyang) to a tropical depression as it turns to the west-southwest again. Between 11:00 - 13:00 UTC (19:00 - 21:00 PHT) at Tropical Depression Sanba (Basyang) crosses the province of Siquijor. 18:00 UTC at The JTWC downgrades Sanba to a tropical wave after emerging over the Sulu Sea.
February 14 18:00 UTC At The JMA assesses Sanba (Basyang)'s central pressure at before rising again as the system moves northwestward. At The JTWC assesses that Sanba (Basyang) re-strengthened into a tropical depression with 1-minute winds of and a minimum central pressure of . (02:00 PHT, February 15) at PAGASA also assesses Sanba (Basyang)'s central pressure at as the system turns towards Palawan.
February 15 00:00 UTC at The JTWC downgrades Sanba (Basyang) into a tropical disturbance as it further weakens. 06:00 UTC At Sanba (Basyang)'s central pressure drops back to per the JMA. (14:00 PHT, February 15) at PAGASA also reports Sanba (Basyang) re-attains a central pressure of as the system is about to make landfall. 14:00 UTC (22:00 PHT)Sanba (Basyang) makes its final landfall at the border of Narra and Sofronio Española towns, Palawan.
February 16 00:00 UTC (08:00 PHT) at PAGASA downgrades Sanba (Basyang) to a low-pressure area now over the South China Sea. 06:00 UTC at The JMA assesses Sanba attaining a pressure drop of as the system decays. 12:00 UTC Sanba weakens and dissipates to a low-pressure area.
March March 24 18:00 UTC at The JMA begins tracking a tropical depression near the Caroline Islands.
March 25 00:00 UTC at The JTWC designates the tropical depression near the Caroline Islands as 03W with 1-minute winds of and a central pressure of . 06:00 UTC at The JMA upgrades 03W to a tropical storm, assigning it the name Jelawat while moving northwestward.
March 26 18:00 UTC at After briefly weakening, Jelawat re-deepens to a central pressure of per the JTWC as the system is about to enter the PAR.
March 27 00:00 UTC (08:00 PHT) at Tropical Storm Jelawat enters the PAR, prompting the PAGASA to assign it the local name Caloy. 18:00 UTC at The JTWC upgrades Jelawat (Caloy) to a tropical storm as it moves northward.
March 28 00:00 UTC (08:00 PHT) at Jelawat (Caloy) attains its within-PAR peak of 10-minute winds of and a minimum central pressure of as it turns to a north-northeastward heading. Around 01:00 UTC (09:00 PHT) PAGASA reports Jelawat (Caloy) has exited the PAR. 06:00 UTC at The JMA upgrades Jelawat to a severe tropical storm.
March 29 00:00 UTC at The JMA further upgrades Jelawat to a typhoon as it slowly turns eastwards. 18:00 UTC at The JTWC follows suit, upgrading Jelawat to a Category 1-equivalent typhoon on the Saffir–Simpson scale (SSHWS).
March 30 00:00 UTC at Jelawat continues intensifying, reaching Category 2-equivalent typhoon status as it moves east-northeast. 06:00 UTC at The JMA estimates that Jelawat has peaked in intensity with 10-minute sustained winds of and a minimum central pressure of ; meanwhile, the JTWC further upgrades Jelawat to a Category 4-equivalent typhoon as it continues rapidly intensifying. 12:00 UTC at The JTWC further upgrades Jelawat to a Category 4 super typhoon, peaking with maximum 1-minute winds of and a minimum central pressure of while moving northeastward. 18:00 UTC at The JTWC downgrades Jelawat back to a Category 4 typhoon.
March 31 00:00 UTC at The JTWC downgrades Jelawat to a Category 3-equivalent typhoon. 06:00 UTC at Typhoon Jelawat further weakens to a Category 1 typhoon. 12:00 UTC at Jelawat continues weakening with the JTWC downgrading it to a tropical storm. 18:00 UTC at The JMA assesses Jelawat has rapidly weakened to a tropical storm.
April April 1 00:00 UTC at The JMA further downgrades Jelawat to a tropical depression as it approaches a stationary front. 06:00 UTC at The JTWC re-classifies Jelawat as having transitioned to a subtropical storm. 12:00 UTCJelawat transitions to an extratropical low per the JMA as the system starts to develop frontal characteristics.
May
May 10 00:00 UTC at The JMA begins tracking a tropical depression east-northeast of Guam. 06:00 UTC at The JMA assesses the tropical depression east-northeast of Guam has attained a central pressure of . 18:00 UTC at The JTWC designates the tropical depression east-northeast of Guam as 04W as the system turned to the west-northwest.
May 11 18:00 UTC at After a brief rise in pressure, 04W re-deepens to a central pressure of
May 12 12:00 UTC at The JTWC upgrades 04W to a tropical storm, subsequently peaking with 1-minute sustained winds of and a minimum central pressure of as it approaches the Northern Mariana Islands. 18:00 UTC at The JMA reports 04W has attained peak 10-minute winds of .
May 13 06:00 UTC at The JMA reports 04W has re-attained a central pressure of while the JTWC downgrades the system to a tropical depression as it continues to move west-northwest. 18:00 UTC at The JMA assesses 04W's central pressure fluctuates to its lower limit of
May 14 06:00 UTC at The JTWC further downgrades 04W to a tropical disturbance as the system moves northward. 18:00 UTC at Ex-04W's central pressure fluctuates back to .
May 15 00:00 UTCThe JMA last notes Ex-04W as it becomes absorbed by an extratropical low, with the system fully dissipating six hours later.
June June 2 12:00 UTC at The JTWC begins tracking a tropical depression, designating it 05W near Vietnam. 18:00 UTC at The JMA begins tracking 05W as a tropical depression as it moves generally northward over the South China Sea.
June 3 06:00 UTC at The JTWC assesses 05W has deepened to before briefly rising again as it slowly moves along the coast of Vietnam. 18:00 UTC at The JMA begins tracking a tropical depression in the southern Philippine Sea with a central pressure of .
June 4 00:00 UTC at The JMA begins tracking a tropical depression northeast of Yap with a central pressure of .
June 5 00:00 UTC At The JMA upgrades 05W to a tropical storm, assigning it the name Ewiniar as it moves around Hainan.