page_title: Typhoon Meranti
section_title: Meteorological history
hierarchical_section_title: Typhoon Meranti / Meteorological history
caption_attribution_description: English: Track map of Typhoon Meranti of the 2016 Pacific typhoon season. The points show the location of the storm at 6-hour intervals. The colour represents the storm's maximum sustained wind speeds as classified in the Saffir–Simpson scale (see below), and the shape of the data points represent the nature of the storm, according to the legend below. Saffir–Simpson scale Tropical depression≤38 mph≤62 km/h Category 3111–129 mph178–208 km/h Tropical storm39–73 mph63–118 km/h Category 4130–156 mph209–251 km/h Category 174–95 mph119–153 km/h Category 5≥157 mph≥252 km/h Category 296–110 mph154–177 km/h Unknown Storm type Tropical cyclone Subtropical cyclone Extratropical cyclone / Remnant low / Tropical disturbance / Monsoon depression
context_page_description: Typhoon Meranti, known in the Philippines as Typhoon Ferdie, was one of the most intense tropical cyclones on record. Impacting the Batanes in the Philippines, Taiwan, as well as Fujian Province in September 2016, Meranti formed as a tropical depression on September 8 near the island of Guam. Tracking to the west northwest, Meranti gradually intensified until September 11, at which point it began a period of rapid intensification. Continuing to rapidly intensify, it became a super typhoon early on September 12, as it passed through the Luzon Strait, ultimately reaching its peak intensity on September 13 with 1-minute sustained winds of 315 km/h. Shortly afterwards, it passed directly over the island of Itbayat. Meranti passed to the south of Taiwan as a super typhoon, and began weakening steadily as a result of land interaction. By September 15, it struck Fujian Province as a Category 2-equivalent typhoon, becoming the strongest typhoon on record to impact the province. Upon moving inland, rapid weakening ensued and Meranti became extratropical the next day, dissipating shortly afterwards after it passed to the south of the Korean Peninsula.
context_section_description: On September 8, the Joint Typhoon Warning Center (JTWC) issued a Tropical Cyclone Formation Alert for an area of convection about 155 km (96 mi) west of Guam in the western Pacific Ocean. According to the agency, the circulation was rapidly consolidating alongside fragmented rainbands. At 18:00 UTC that night, the Japan Meteorological Agency (JMA) classified the system as a tropical depression. On the next day, the JTWC classified it as Tropical Depression 16W. By that time, the nascent system was moving slowly west-northwestward through a region of low wind shear, steered by ridges to the north and southwest. Increasing but fragmented convection, or thunderstorms, was fueled by unusually warm water temperatures and outflow from the south. At 06:00 UTC on September 10, the JMA upgraded the depression to Tropical Storm Meranti, which meandered over its own track while consolidating.  
  Northerly wind shear shifted the deepest convection to the south of Meranti's circulation, although rainbands and a central dense overcast continued to evolve as the wind shear decreased. By early on September 11, the storm's movement was steady to the west-northwest, south of the ridge. At 06:00 UTC that day, the JMA upgraded Meranti to typhoon status, and shortly thereafter the JTWC followed suit. The storm's structure continued to improve, with increased outflow. A small eye 9 km (5.6 mi) across developed within the spiraling thunderstorms, signaling that Meranti was rapidly intensifying. At 06:00 UTC on September 12, the JTWC upgraded Meranti to a super typhoon, with 1-minute maximum sustained winds of 240 km/h (150 mph). Six hours later, the JTWC estimated 1-minute sustained winds of 285 km/h (180 mph), equivalent to Category 5 on the Saffir–Simpson scale, while noting "an extremely favorable environment", and that the eye became even more symmetric within intense convection. Outflow enhanced by a strong anticyclone over Meranti fueled the intensification, and the typhoon peaked in intensity on September 13 while passing through the Luzon Strait.
  The JMA estimated peak 10-minute sustained winds of 220 km/h (140 mph) and a minimum barometric pressure of 890 hPa (mbar; 26.28 inHg), while the JTWC estimated peak 1-minute sustained winds of 315 km/h (195 mph). Based on the JMA pressure estimate, Meranti was among the most intense tropical cyclones. The JTWC wind estimate made Meranti the strongest tropical cyclone by wind speed worldwide in 2016, surpassing Cyclone Winston, which had peak sustained winds of 285 km/h (180 mph) when it struck Fiji in February. Late on September 13, the storm made landfall on the 83 km² (32 sq mi) island of Itbayat in the Philippine province of Batanes shortly after attaining its peak intensity, with 1-minute sustained winds of 305 km/h (190 mph). A weather station on the island measured 10-minute sustained winds of 180 km/h (110 mph) and a concurrent pressure of 933.6 mbar (27.57 inHg) around 17:00 UTC before being destroyed. Just south of Itbayat in Basco, sustained winds peaked at 144 km/h (89 mph), gusts reached 252 km/h (157 mph), and a minimum pressure of 935.4 mbar (27.62 inHg) was observed in the eyewall.
  At around 03:15 CST on September 15 (19:15 UTC on September 14), Meranti slammed into the Xiang'an District, Xiamen, Fujian, with measured 2-minute sustained winds of 173 km/h (107 mph), making it the second strongest typhoon ever to make landfall in Fujian Province.
caption: Map plotting the track and the intensity of the storm, according to the Saffir–Simpson scale
exif: {}