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The 2008 Pacific typhoon season will have no official bounds; it will run year-round in 2009, but most tropical cyclones tend to form in the northwestern Pacific Ocean between May and November. These dates conventionally delimit the period of each year when most tropical cyclones form in the northwestern Pacific Ocean.

The scope of this article is limited to the Pacific Ocean, north of the equator and west of the International Date Line. Storms that form east of the date line and north of the equator are called hurricanes; see 2009 Pacific hurricane season. Tropical storms formed in the entire Western North Pacific basin are assigned a name by the Japan Meteorological Agency. Tropical depressions formed in this basin are given a number with a "W" suffix by the United States' Joint Typhoon Warning Center. In addition, the Philippine Atmospheric, Geophysical and Astronomical Services Administration (PAGASA) assigns names to tropical cyclones (including tropical depressions) that enter or form in the Philippine area of responsibility. These names, however, are not in common use outside of the Philippines.

Storms

No storms have formed yet this season.

Accumulated Cyclone Energy (ACE)

The table on the right shows the ACE for each storm in the season. ACE is, broadly speaking, a measure of the power of the hurricane multiplied by the length of time it existed, so storms that last a long time , as well as particularly strong hurricanes (like Hurricane Ike), have high ACEs. ACE is only officially released for full advisories on tropical systems at or exceeding 34 knots (39 mph, 63 km/h) or tropical storm strength. Subtropical storms are not included in season totals, and thus values accrued while storms were subtropical will not be included in its ACE total. Please note that it is only offically issued by the JMA. However other agencys issue it. They will be in brackets.

Storm Names

Western North Pacific tropical cyclones are named by the RSMC Tokyo-Typhoon Center of the Japan Meteorological Agency. Names are selected from the following lists, there is no annual list. Names were contributed by 13 members of the ESCAP/WMO Typhoon Committee, except for Singapore. The 13 nations or territories, along with the Federated States of Micronesia, each submitted 10 names, which are used in alphabetical order by the English name of the country. The first storm of the season will be named Maysak. Names in bold are storms that are currently active, and unused names are marked in gray.

Philippines

The Philippine Atmospheric, Geophysical and Astronomical Services Administration (PAGASA) uses its own naming scheme for tropical cyclones within its area of responsibility. Lists are recycled every four years.

References

1. Gary Padgett. "Monthly Global Tropical Cyclone Summuary May 2003". Typhoon 2000. Retrieved 2008-10-30.
2. "Philippine Tropical Cyclone Names". PAGASA. Retrieved 2008-10-30.
3. Typhoon 2000. "The Philippine Tropical Cyclone Names". Retrieved 2008-10-30.{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: numeric names: authors list (link)