Severe Tropical Storm Pakhar, known in the

Philippines The Philippines (; fil, Pilipinas, links=no), officially the Republic of the Philippines ( fil, Republika ng Pilipinas, links=no), * bik, Republika kan Filipinas * ceb, Republika sa Pilipinas * cbk, República de Filipinas * hil, Republ ...

as Tropical Storm Jolina, was a strong

tropical storm A tropical cyclone is a rapidly rotating storm system characterized by a low-pressure center, a closed low-level atmospheric circulation, strong winds, and a spiral arrangement of thunderstorms that produce heavy rain and squalls. Dependi ...

that impacted South China during late August 2017. This storm followed

Typhoon Hato Typhoon Hato, known in the Philippines as Severe Tropical Storm Isang, was a strong tropical cyclone that struck South China in August 2017. Developing as the thirteenth named storm and the fourth typhoon of the Pacific typhoon season, Hato form ...

which affected the area a few days prior. Pakhar was the fourteenth named storm of the Pacific typhoon season. Pakhar developed from a tropical depression to the east of

Luzon Luzon (; ) is the largest and most populous island in the Philippines. Located in the northern portion of the Philippines archipelago, it is the economic and political center of the nation, being home to the country's capital city, Manila, as ...

during August 24, and intensified into a tropical storm later that day. Pakhar made landfall over in

Aurora An aurora (plural: auroras or aurorae), also commonly known as the polar lights, is a natural light display in Earth's sky, predominantly seen in high-latitude regions (around the Arctic and Antarctic). Auroras display dynamic patterns of bri ...

on August 25. Pakhar gradually intensified and peaked as a severe tropical storm by August 27, making landfall over

Taishan __NOTOC__ Taishan may refer to: *Mount Tai or Taishan (), Shandong, China * Taishan District, Tai'an (), named after the Mount Tai, a district in Tai'an, Shandong, China *Taishan, Guangdong (), a county-level city of Jiangmen, Guangdong, China ** G ...

Jiangmen Jiangmen (), alternately romanized in Cantonese as Kongmoon, is a prefecture-level city in Guangdong Province in southern China. As of the 2020 census, its three urban districts, plus Heshan City being conurbated, with 2,657,662 inhabitants a ...

in Southern China.

Meteorological history

On August 23, the

Joint Typhoon Warning Center The Joint typhoon Warning Center (JTWC) is a joint United States Navy – United States Air Force command in Pearl Harbor, Hawaii. The JTWC is responsible for the issuing of tropical cyclone warnings in the North-West Pacific Ocean, South P ...

(JTWC) started to monitor a tropical disturbance that had developed about to the north of the island of

Palau Palau,, officially the Republic of Palau and historically ''Belau'', ''Palaos'' or ''Pelew'', is an island country and microstate in the western Pacific. The nation has approximately 340 islands and connects the western chain of the ...

. The next day, the

Japan Meteorological Agency The , abbreviated JMA, is an agency of the Ministry of Land, Infrastructure, Transport and Tourism. It is charged with gathering and providing results for the public in Japan that are obtained from data based on daily scientific observation an ...

(JMA) classified the system as a weak tropical depression, while the JTWC issued a

Tropical Cyclone Formation Alert A Tropical Cyclone Formation Alert (TCFA) is a bulletin released by the U.S. Navy-operated Joint Typhoon Warning Center in Honolulu, Hawaii or the Fleet Weather Center in Norfolk, Virginia, warning of the possibility of a tropical cyclone formin ...

(TCFA). Six hours after the TCFA, the JMA began issuing advisories on the depression after they have determined that the system contained winds of . By 15:00 UTC of the same day, the JTWC had upgraded the system to a tropical depression, assigning the numerical designation ''16W''. Three hours later, the JMA tracked that 16W had already strengthened into a tropical storm, giving 16W the name ''Pakhar''. Around the same time, the

PAGASA Pagasa may refer to: * ''Pagasa'' (genus), an insect genus in the family Nabidae * PAGASA, an acronym for the Philippine Atmospheric, Geophysical and Astronomical Services Administration *"May Pagasa", a pen-name of José Rizal José Prot ...

began issuing advisories under the local name ''Jolina''. After it was depicted by satellite imagery that there were deep convection obscuring its

low-level circulation center The eye is a region of mostly calm weather at the center of tropical cyclones. The eye of a storm is a roughly circular area, typically in diameter. It is surrounded by the ''eyewall'', a ring of towering thunderstorms where the most severe weat ...

(LLCC), the JTWC had upgraded the system to a tropical storm. By August 25, Pakhar slightly intensified after convective banding wrapping to its LLCC was depicted by imagery. Pakhar was also located in a very favorable environment such as low

wind shear Wind shear (or windshear), sometimes referred to as wind gradient, is a difference in wind speed and/or direction over a relatively short distance in the atmosphere. Atmospheric wind shear is normally described as either vertical or horizont ...

along with warm sea-surface temperatures of . Pakhar slightly intensified after a burst of deep convection developed just prior of making landfall over in

in the province of

. However, due to land reaction from the archipelago and the inclusion of a weakened convective structure, Pakhar weakened to minimal tropical storm intensity. After emerging to the

South China Sea The South China Sea is a marginal sea of the Western Pacific Ocean. It is bounded in the north by the shores of South China (hence the name), in the west by the Indochinese Peninsula, in the east by the islands of Taiwan and northwestern Phi ...

on August 26, Pakhar began to re-intensify as the storm entered in an area of a much lower amount of wind shear. However six hours later, Pakhar maintained its intensity after its LLCC became exposed and its deep convective banding became fragmented. By 18:00 UTC of the same day, the JMA upgraded Pakhar's intensity as a severe tropical storm, despite its central convection remaining disorganized. The PAGASA also stated that the storm had already exited their area of responsibility, issuing its final bulletin on Pakhar. By 00:00 UTC of August 27, Pakhar reached its maximum intensity of with a minimum barometric pressure of 985 hPa while making landfall over in South China in the city of

. The JTWC assessed Pakhar's maximum intensity slightly higher with winds of , however. Three hours later, the JTWC issued their final advisory. By 06:00 UTC, Pakhar began to rapidly weaken as the JMA downgraded Pakhar to a tropical storm. The JMA tracked the system until 18:00 UTC of the same day when it fully dissipated.

Preparations and impact

Philippines

Tropical Storm Pakhar was locally named as Jolina within the country by PAGASA. As soon as the PAGASA began issuing advisories on the storm, Tropical Cyclone Warning Signal#1 was raised over most of

Cagayan Valley Cagayan Valley ( ilo, Tanap ti Cagayan; fil, Lambak ng Cagayan), is an administrative region in the Philippines, located in the northeastern section of Luzon Island. It is composed of five Philippine provinces: Batanes, Cagayan, Isabela, ...

and northern

during August 24. Tropical Cyclone Warning Signal #2 was also raised in the same areas with the inclusion of the

Cordillera Administrative Region The Cordillera Administrative Region (CAR; ilo, Rehion/Deppaar Administratibo ti Kordiliera; fil, Rehiyong Pampangasiwaan ng Cordillera), also known as the Cordillera Region and Cordillera (), is an administrative region in the Philippines, ...

while Signal #1 was extended to the

Ilocos Region Ilocos Region ( ilo, Rehion/Deppaar ti Ilocos; pag, Sagor na Baybay na Luzon/Rehiyon Uno; tl, Rehiyon ng Ilocos) is an administrative region of the Philippines, designated as Region I, occupying the northwestern section of Luzon and part of ...

and

Bicol Region Bicol, known formally as the Bicol Region or colloquially as Bicolandia ( bcl, Rehiyon kan Bikol; Rinconada Bikol: ''Rehiyon ka Bikol''; Waray Sorsogon, Masbateño: ''Rehiyon san Bikol''; tl, Rehiyon ng Bikol), is an administrative region of ...

. By August 25, a total of 16 provinces were placed in a warning as they were located within a radius of the storm. Classes were suspended for all levels over in

Albay Albay,
16W.PAKHAR
from the U.S. Naval Research Laboratory
South China Morning Post Topic : Typhoon Hato
{{DEFAULTSORT:Pakhar (2017) 2017 disasters in China 2017 disasters in the Philippines 2017 in Hong Kong 2017 Pacific typhoon season August 2017 events in China August 2017 events in the Philippines Typhoons in China Typhoons in Hong Kong Typhoons in the Philippines Pakhar