A review of the 2010 Hurricane, tropical cyclone and Typhoon Season

2010 was another exceptionally quiet year as regards hurricanes, tropical cyclones and typhoons and this continues the trend of the previous two years in terms of numbers of storms but there was an increase in the numbers of events that became full-blown hurricanes, tropical cyclones or typhoons. The ending of the El Niño and its replacement by La Niña is likely to lead to an end to this trend. Global fatality levels dropped significantly but damage was up, particularly in the Atlantic. Only the Atlantic Hurricane Season was above average and there were all time record lows for the North West Pacific Typhoon and East Pacific Hurricane Seasons. Once again there were four Category 5 events but not more than one in any region; of note was Typhoon Megi with a lowest central pressure of 885 hPa.