Typhoon Pongsona was the second costliest United States disaster in 2002, only behind Hurricane Lili. It developed out of an area of disturbed weather on December 2, and steadily intensified to reach typhoon status on December 5. It made landfall on Guam on December 8, and two hours later the northern portion of the eyewall crossed over nearby Rota. It then weakened to an extratropheic cyclone on December 9, and it was declared as an extratropical cyclone on December 11.
About Typhoon Pongsona in brief
Typhoon Pongsona was the second costliest United States disaster in 2002, only behind Hurricane Lili. It developed out of an area of disturbed weather on December 2, and steadily intensified to reach typhoon status on December 5. On December 8 it passed through Guam and the Northern Mariana Islands while near its peak winds of 175 kmh. It ultimately turned to the northeast, weakened, and became extratropical on December 11. Damage on the island of Guam totaled over USD 730 million, making it one of the five costliest typhoons in the island’s history. The typhoon also caused heavy damage on Rota and elsewhere in the NorthernMariana Islands, and as a result of its impact the name was retired. The name was contributed by North Korea for the Pacific tropical cyclone list and is the Korean name for the garden balsam. The National Weather Service in Guam issued a tropical storm watch for the Marshall Islands and Chuuk Islands shortly after the typhoon developed into a typhoon. It also issued tropical storm warnings for the Federated States of Micronesia, which moved through one typhoon-force winds before the storm moved through the unpopulated island of Aguigan. It was the last typhoon of the 2002 Pacific typhoon season, and was the third strongest storm of the year in the Pacific basin.
It is the only typhoon to be named by the Joint Typhoon Warning Center (JTWC) and the Japan Meteorological Agency (JMA) since the start of the Pacific hurricane season in 2001. The JTWC and the JMA have since retired the name “Pongsonas” from their tropical cyclones list. It has been replaced by “Tropical Storms” and “Typhoons” in the U.S. Atlantic hurricane season. The storm was the most powerful typhoon in the Atlantic basin since Hurricane Katrina in 2004. It caused more than $1 billion in damage in the United States and Puerto Rico. It left about 1,300 homes without power and damaged more than 1,000 buildings in the Marshall and Micronesian Islands. It made landfall on Guam on December 8, and two hours later the northern portion of the eyewall crossed over nearby Rota. It then weakened to an extratropheic cyclone on December 9, and it was declared as an extratropicals cyclone on December 11 about 1400 km northwest of Guam. A tropical storm warning was issued for parts of Guam, Chuuk, and theMarshall Islands the next day. It later weakened to a tropical typhoon, which was upgraded to a typhoon the day later.
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This page is based on the article Typhoon Pongsona published in Wikipedia (as of Nov. 05, 2020) and was automatically summarized using artificial intelligence.
