page_title: Typhoon Saola (2012)
section_title: Meteorological history
hierarchical_section_title: Typhoon Saola (2012) / Meteorological history
caption_attribution_description: English: Tropical Storm Saola (10W) approaching China
context_page_description: Typhoon Saola, known in the Philippines as Typhoon Gener and in Taiwan as Typhoon Sura, was a strong tropical cyclone affecting the Philippines, Taiwan and China. It was the ninth named storm and the fourth typhoon of the 2012 Pacific typhoon season. Saola is the name of a rare mammal found in Vietnam.
context_section_description: On July 26, the Japan Meteorological Agency (JMA) reported that a tropical depression had developed within an area of strong vertical windshear in the monsoon trough about 1,000 kilometres (620 mi) to the southeast of Manila in the Philippines. During that day the shear relaxed before during the next day, the Joint Typhoon Warning Center (JTWC) issued a Tropical Cyclone Formation Alert on the system.
  Early on July 28, the JTWC upgraded the system to a tropical depression, whilst the JMA upgraded it to a tropical storm and named it Saola. Soon, the Philippine Atmospheric, Geophysical and Astronomical Services Administration (PAGASA) upgraded the system to a tropical depression and named it Gener. Later that day, the JTWC upgraded Saola to a tropical storm. Early on July 29, the JMA upgraded Saola to a severe tropical storm. On July 30, the JTWC upgraded Saola to a category 1 typhoon, as it started to develop an eye-like feature, but soon downgraded it to a tropical storm late on the same day. On July 31, the JTWC upgraded Saola to a category 1 typhoon again. Late on the same day, the JMA upgraded Saola to a typhoon, and the JTWC soon upgraded it to a category 2 typhoon early on the next day. The Central Weather Bureau (CWB) reported that Typhoon Saola made landfall over Xiulin, Hualien in Taiwan at 19:20 UTC on August 1 (03:20 TST on August 2). However, Saola later moved counterclockwise and arrived the ocean soon, whilst the JMA downgraded it to a severe tropical storm early on August 2 due to strong land interaction. At 06Z on the same day, Saola passed over Cape San Diego, the easternmost point of Taiwan. Late on August 2, the JMA downgraded Saola to a tropical storm, before it made landfall over Fuding in Fujian, China at 22:50 UTC (06:50 CST on August 3). On August 3, the JMA downgraded Saola to a tropical depression, after the JTWC issued a final warning on the system. The system continued to weaken into a weak low pressure area over Jiangxi, China on August 4. The weak, remnant low later drifted south west to the Gulf of Tokin, and regenerated slightly on August 7.
caption: Severe Tropical Storm Saola over Taiwan
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