Typhoon Vicente (2012)

Typhoon Vicente (Ferdie)

Typhoon (JMA scale)
Category 4 (Saffir–Simpson scale)
Typhoon Vicente making landfall over Guangdong, China at peak intensity on July 23
Formed	July 18, 2012
Dissipated	July 25, 2012
Highest winds	10-minute sustained: 150 km/h (90 mph) 1-minute sustained: 215 km/h (130 mph)
Lowest pressure	950 hPa (mbar); 28.05 inHg
Fatalities	15 total
Damage	$329 million (2012 USD)
Areas affected	Philippines, Hong Kong, Macau, China, Vietnam, Laos
Part of the 2012 Pacific typhoon season

Typhoon Vicente, known in the Philippines as Tropical Depression Ferdie, was regarded as the most powerful storm to strike southern China in recent years, as it made landfall as a powerful category 4 equivalent-typhoon. Vicente was also a powerful tropical cyclone that struck Macau and nearly impacted Hong Kong, as well as Guangdong and Guangxi provinces in China. Vicente, the eighth named storm and third typhoon in the 2012 Pacific typhoon season, began life as a tropical depression on July 18, 2012 north east of the Philippines. Vicente soon steadily moved into the South China Sea, and began to intensify above warm sea waters, and began explosive intensification early on July 23, and started to charge toward the Guangdong region prompting the Hong Kong Observatory (HKO) to issue the Hurricane Signal, No. 10, the first since York in 1999. The Macao Meteorological and Geophysical Bureau also hoisted the Signal No. 9 for the first time since York and after the transfer of sovereignty over Macau. Late on the same day, Vicente made landfall over Taishan in Guangdong, China.

After Khanun became a tropical storm on July 16, its large area of convection associated with a tropical wave in the south began to split, and it was transformed into a tropical disturbance on July 17.Japan Meteorological Agency (JMA) upgraded the system to a tropical depression on July 18. On July 20, the tropical depression became more organized; however, due to moderate vertical wind shear, and dry air coming from the north of the system, the low level circulation center became exposed, as it developed three multiple circulation centers. Later that day, the Joint Typhoon Warning Center (JTWC) issued a Tropical Cyclone Formation Alert on the system; soon, the Philippine Atmospheric, Geophysical and Astronomical Services Administration (PAGASA) upgraded it to a tropical depression and named it Ferdie. The JTWC also upgraded the system to a tropical depression late on the same day.