How we count

When does a bagyo count?

Which five make the list?

The five we estimate hit your town hardest. For each storm we combine how deep your town sat inside JMA's storm-force wind area with how far the centre passed, and rank by that estimate; when fewer than five can be ranked, the latest storms fill the list. It is an estimate, not a measurement: checked against PAGASA's wind signals since 2008, it shows 78.8% of the typhoon-force storms a list has room for, up from 70.7% under the old rule.

Why not every storm?

The card starts at Tropical Storm strength. That keeps Ondoy and Sendong and leaves out tropical depressions. Turn on “Include weaker storms” for every hit. PAGASA categories need JMA wind data, which starts in 1977, so lifetimes beginning before then count every hit.

Is it right?

Across 42 storms (2021–2023), our count of provinces hit was off from PAGASA's wind signals by 2.6 provinces on average. Across 104 storms (2018–2023) counted on PAGASA's own tracks, 8 in every 10 towns are within one storm of PAGASA's count, and 96% are within two.

What's missing?

• No gale areas before 1977, so older counts run low.
• Most 2026 storms are still waiting on their gale areas and categories, so 2026 runs low until NOAA adds them.
• Tracks for 2025 and 2026 are early and may shift when NOAA finalises them.
• 59 storms since 1977 have hits with no category, which the typhoons-only card leaves out.
• 74 storms with a Filipino name have no track, so they can't be counted.

Where it comes from

• NOAA IBTrACS — tracks, with Japan Meteorological Agency winds, gale areas and storm-force areas.
• PAGASA Annual Reports — Filipino names (2017–2023), wind signals, tracks.
• Wikipedia — Filipino names for other years, under CC BY-SA 4.0.
• PSA PSGC — town boundaries, from altcoder's shapefiles.