Typhoon Sinlaku (2008)

Typhoon Sinlaku (Marce)

Typhoon (JMA scale)
Category 4 (Saffir–Simpson scale)
Typhoon Sinlaku on September 10, 2008, approaching Taiwan at peak strength.
Formed	September 8, 2008
Dissipated	September 25, 2008
(Extratropical after September 21)
Highest winds	10-minute sustained: 185 km/h (115 mph) 1-minute sustained: 230 km/h (145 mph)
Lowest pressure	935 hPa (mbar); 27.61 inHg
Fatalities	12 direct, 2 indirect, 10 missing
Damage	$1.1 billion (2008 USD)
Areas affected	Philippines, Taiwan, People's Republic of China, Japan
Part of the 2008 Pacific typhoon season

Typhoon Sinlaku, known in the Philippines as Typhoon Marce, was a typhoon which affected the Philippines, Taiwan, China and Japan. It was recognised as the 13th named storm and the ninth typhoon of the 2008 Pacific typhoon season by the Japan Meteorological Agency.

The name Sinlaku was one of the ten original names submitted to the WMOs Typhoon Committee for use from January 1, 2000 by Micronesia. It was last used in the 2002 Pacific typhoon season to name a tropical storm and is the name of a goddess worshipped on the island of Kosrae in Micronesia. Note that the name is apparently shortened (a seemingly routine practice of making names easier to read to Westerners) from the original "Sin Laku."

On September 7, 2008, a tropical disturbance formed to the northeast of Manila in the Philippines. It was initially forecasted not to intensify into a tropical depression within 24 hours. However it was upgraded to a tropical depression early the next morning with both PAGASA & the JMA designating it as a minor tropical depression with PAGASA naming the depression as Marce. Meanwhile, the Joint Typhoon Warning Center (JTWC) issued a Tropical Cyclone Formation Alert on the developing depression. Later that day PAGASA upgraded the depression to a tropical storm whilst the JMA started to issue full advisories on the depression. That afternoon the JTWC designated the depression as Tropical Depression 15W. During that evening the depression had intensified into a tropical storm and was named Sinlaku by the JMA. The JTWC also upgraded the depression to a tropical storm that evening.

Early on September 9 the JMA upgraded Sinlaku to a Severe Tropical Storm. Whilst during that afternoon the JTWC reported that Sinlaku had intensified into a Typhoon, the JMA then upgraded Sinlaku to a typhoon later that day. The JTWC then reported Sinlaku had intensified into a category two typhoon. During the next day Sinlaku continued to intensify and reached its maximum 1 minute sustained winds of 125 knots which made it a Category 4 typhoon. It stayed at this intensity until the next day when it started to weaken as it went through an eye wall replacement cycle. Sinlaku then struggled to come out of its eye wall replacement cycle and as a result weakened into a Category 3 typhoon. The weakening trend continued until on September 13 Typhoon Sinlaku made landfall on Taiwan as a Category 2 typhoon. It moved towards the North West through Taiwan and then turned towards the north east and moved back into the South China Sea and started moving slowly towards Japan.