page_title: Typhoon Sanba
section_title: Meteorological history
hierarchical_section_title: Typhoon Sanba / Meteorological history
caption_attribution_description: English: Track map of Typhoon Sanba of the 2012 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 Sanba, known in the Philippines as Typhoon Karen, was the strongest tropical cyclone worldwide in 2012. The sixteenth named storm and tenth typhoon of the annual typhoon season, Sanba formed as a tropical depression east of The Philippines on September 10. The storm gradually intensified as it moved generally northward in an area favorable for tropical development. The system was soon upgraded to a tropical storm less than a day after formation and subsequently further to a typhoon on September 12. Later that day, Sanba entered a phase of explosive intensification, quickly strengthening and gaining annular characteristics. On September 13, the system attained its peak intensity with maximum sustained winds of 125 mph, and a barometric pressure of 900 mbar, becoming the strongest typhoon in the Western Pacific Ocean since Megi in 2010. Accelerating towards more northerly latitudes, a period of gradual weakening ensued afterwards as its eye expanded. It made landfall on South Korea late on September 17 as a typhoon before transitioning into an extratropical cyclone the following day.
context_section_description: A low-pressure area formed east of Palau on September 9 and gradually drifted westward. Early on September 10, the Japan Meteorological Agency (JMA) upgraded it to a tropical depression, before the Joint Typhoon Warning Center (JTWC) issued a Tropical Cyclone Formation Alert on the system later that day and also upgraded it to a tropical depression late on the same day, as Sanba started to become more organized, with the banding of thunderstorms strengthened, and wrapped more tightly into the low level circulation center .
  As the system entered the Philippine Area of Responsibility early on September 11, the Philippine Atmospheric, Geophysical and Astronomical Services Administration (PAGASA) started to advisories on the system and named it Karen. At the same time, the JMA upgraded the system to a tropical storm and named it Sanba, and the JTWC also upgraded it to a tropical storm later.
  On September 12, the JTWC reported that Sanba had strengthened into a category 1 typhoon. Late on the same day, Sanba began explosive intensification, prompting the JMA upgrading it to a severe tropical storm and even a typhoon later. On September 13, the JTWC reported that Sanba had rapidly strengthened into category 2 typhoon to category 4 typhoon, as it became an Annular Typhoon, with a 37 kilometer wide eye. The system's central dense overcast also became more compacted, at around the same time. Late on September 13, the JTWC reported that Sanba strengthened into a category 5 super typhoon, and had intensified into the strongest typhoon in the western north pacific since Megi in 2010. On September 15, as the system started to weaken into a category 3 typhoon, the well defined eye wall dissipated, and started to undergo an eyewall replacement cycle, and soon ended up with a 70 kilometer wide eye.
  On September 17, at 01:00 (UTC) Sanba made landfall over Korea.
caption: Map plotting the track and the intensity of the storm, according to the Saffir–Simpson scale
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