&sq=Envato&lang=en&file=File:Usagi_2024-11-13_1730Z.jpg) Typhoon Usagi nearing landfall at peak intensity on November 13 | |
| Meteorological history | |
|---|---|
| Formed | November 9, 2024 |
| Dissipated | November 16, 2024 |
| Very strong typhoon | |
| 10-minute sustained (JMA) | |
| Highest winds | 175 km/h (110 mph) |
| Lowest pressure | 940 hPa (mbar); 27.76 inHg |
| Category 4-equivalent super typhoon | |
| 1-minute sustained (SSHWS/JTWC) | |
| Highest winds | 240 km/h (150 mph) |
| Lowest pressure | 933 hPa (mbar); 27.55 inHg |
| Overall effects | |
| Fatalities | 2 |
| Missing | 1 |
| Damage | $9.56 million (2024 USD) |
| Areas affected | Philippines (particularly Northern Luzon), Taiwan |
Part of the 2024 Pacific typhoon season | |
Typhoon Usagi, known in the Philippines as Super Typhoon Ofel, was a powerful tropical cyclone that impacted the Philippines before later affecting Taiwan in early November 2024. It was the fifth tropical cyclone in a series to impact the Philippines, following Tropical Storm Trami and Typhoons Kong-rey, Yinxing, and Toraji which had occurred just a few weeks earlier; Usagi also struck just a few days before Man-yi. Additionally, it was the first time since records began in 1951 that four storms—named Yinxing, Toraji, Usagi, and Man-yi—had existed simultaneously in November.
The twenty-fifth named storm and the fifth super typhoon of the annual typhoon season, Usagi, developed from an area of convection located 494 km (307 mi) east of Chuuk. As it moved westward along the southern periphery of a mid-level subtropical high, the system exhibited formative convective banding wrapping cyclonically around the northern and western quadrants, signaling intensification. On November 13, the Joint Typhoon Warning Center (JTWC) reported that the system had peaked as a Category 4-equivalent super typhoon on the Saffir–Simpson scale, with 1-minute sustained winds of 240 km/h (150 mph). The Japan Meteorological Agency (JMA) noted that Yinxing reached its maximum strength with 10-minute sustained winds of 175 km/h (110 mph) and a central pressure of 940 hPa (27.76 inHg). Usagi made landfall in Baggao, Cagayan, on Luzon Island on November 14, as indicated by satellite imagery. After crossing northern Luzon, Usagi emerged into the Babuyan Channel, moving northwestward along the southwestern periphery of a mid-level subtropical high and passing close to the Babuyan Islands and northern Cagayan, with satellite imagery revealing a rapidly weakening low-level circulation and deep convection flaring to the northeast of a broad, partially exposed center. The system, exhibiting a very ragged appearance and weakening significantly due to increasing vertical wind shear, showed disorganized rotation and slow spin just offshore of southwestern Taiwan. The JMA continued to track it until it dissipated on November 16.
PAGASA issued Tropical Cyclone Wind Signal for various areas, and the DSWD announced it had spent ₱1 billion (US$20.3 million) in response to Usagi and previous storms. As a precaution, two spillways at the Magat Dam were left open, and authorities advised people evacuated due to earlier typhoons not to return home. In Taiwan, the Central Weather Administration issued a sea warning for the southern part of the Taiwan Strait on November 14, followed by a land warning for Pingtung County and the Hengchun Peninsula. Usagi caused US$9.56 million in damages and left two people dead and another missing in the Philippines.