| Tropical cyclones in 2008 | |
|---|---|
 Year summary map | |
| Year boundaries | |
| First system | 07 |
| Formed | January 6, 2008 |
| Last system | 05U |
| Dissipated | December 28, 2008 |
| Strongest system | |
| Name | Jangmi |
| Lowest pressure | 905 mbar (hPa); 26.72 inHg |
| Longest lasting system | |
| Name | Hondo |
| Duration | 28 days |
| Year statistics | |
| Total systems | 124 |
| Named systems | 83 |
| Total fatalities | 142,091 |
| Total damage | > $70.3 billion (2008 USD) |
Throughout 2008, 124 tropical cyclones have formed in bodies of water known as tropical cyclone basins. Of these, 83 have been named, by various weather agencies when they attained maximum sustained winds of 35 knots (65 km/h; 40 mph). The strongest storm of the year was Typhoon Jangmi in the Western Pacific Ocean. The deadliest storm of the year was Cyclone Nargis, which caused devastating and castatrophic destruction in Myanmar with 138,373 fatalities. The costliest storm of the year was Hurricane Ike, which wreaked havoc thorough Cuba and Texas, with $38 billion (2008 USD) in damage. Throughout the year, 24 Category 3 tropical cyclones formed, including one Category 5 tropical cyclone in the year. The accumulated cyclone energy (ACE) index for the 2008 (seven basins combined), as calculated by Colorado State University was 613.9 units.
Tropical cyclones are primarily monitored by a group of ten warning centres, which have been designated as a Regional Specialized Meteorological Center (RSMC) or a Tropical Cyclone Warning Center (TCWC) by the World Meteorological Organization. These are the United States National Hurricane Center (NHC) and Central Pacific Hurricane Center, the Japan Meteorological Agency (JMA), the India Meteorological Department (IMD), Météo-France, Indonesia's Badan Meteorologi, Klimatologi, dan Geofisika, the Australian Bureau of Meteorology (BOM), Papua New Guinea's National Weather Service, the Fiji Meteorological Service (FMS) as well as New Zealand's MetService. Other notable warning centres include the Philippine Atmospheric, Geophysical and Astronomical Services Administration (PAGASA), the United States Joint Typhoon Warning Center (JTWC), and the Brazilian Navy Hydrographic Center.
Among them, Jangmi (fourth image in the final row) was the most intense, with a minimum central pressure of 905 hPa.