Samar, Philippines: storm history

230 storms have passed within 50 km of Samar from 1885 to 2025. The map shows Philippines; search for a town in Samar to see storms near it.

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Years1842 to 2026
Ocean basin

Choosing a minimum category hides storms with no wind speed in the record. To see which storms have passed near you, search a town or ZIP code, or tap the map.

Key
  • Tropical depression Winds below 34 knots (39 mph)
  • Tropical storm 34 to 63 knots (39 to 73 mph)
  • Category 1 64 to 82 knots (74 to 95 mph)
  • Category 2 83 to 95 knots (96 to 110 mph)
  • Category 3 96 to 112 knots (111 to 129 mph), major
  • Category 4 113 to 136 knots (130 to 156 mph), major
  • Category 5 137 knots (157 mph) or more, major
  • Unknown intensity No wind speed in the record
  • Post-tropical Storm has become post-tropical (dashed line)

How to read the lines. Each line is the track of one storm, drawn through its six-hourly positions and coloured by its intensity at each point (the Saffir-Simpson scale), so a line changes colour as the storm strengthens or weakens. Tap a line for its details, or tap anywhere else to see which storms have passed nearby. Weaker storms appear as you zoom in. Hurricanes, typhoons and cyclones are the same kind of storm with different names in different oceans.

Storms near Samar

The record holds 230 tropical cyclones whose tracks passed within 50 km of Samar, Philippines between 1885 and 2025. The busiest month is November, with 58 of them. The strongest, measured where each came closest to the place, reached category 5 strength. 105 of the storms have no wind speed in the record.

  • 230storms within 50 km
  • 16major (category 3 to 5) near here
  • 44at category 1 strength or more

A storm counts once, however many times it came close. The category is the storm's strongest point within 50 km, which can be weaker than its peak elsewhere.

How strong were the storms near Samar?

Category near hereStormsShare
Tropical depression3917%
Tropical storm4218%
Category 1167%
Category 2125%
Category 342%
Category 494%
Category 531%
Unknown intensity10546%

The agency behind most of the intensity figures here is the US Joint Typhoon Warning Center (western Pacific).

Samar storms over time

Storms by decade
Bar chart of storms by period. The most is 28 in 1970s.1880s1900s1920s1940s1960s1980s2000s2020s

The 2020s only run to 2025, so that bar is for a shorter period. This place's record starts in 1885, and records before the satellite era (about the 1960s) are far less complete.

Show the numbers
PeriodCount
1880s2
1890s5
1900s14
1910s15
1920s13
1930s23
1940s11
1950s15
1960s15
1970s28
1980s26
1990s19
2000s18
2010s14
2020s12

Earlier decades hold fewer storms partly because they were harder to see. Before weather satellites (about the 1960s) many storms that stayed at sea went unrecorded, so compare decades with care.

Storms by month
Bar chart of storms by period. The most is 58 in Nov.Jan9Feb3Mar5Apr13May16Jun21Jul16Aug6Sep14Oct28Nov58Dec41
Show the numbers
PeriodCount
Jan9
Feb3
Mar5
Apr13
May16
Jun21
Jul16
Aug6
Sep14
Oct28
Nov58
Dec41

Strongest storms near Samar

  • Haiyan (2013)2 November 2013 to 11 November 2013, peak Category 5 (170 kt), 895 hPa
  • Gilda (1959)11 December 1959 to 22 December 1959, peak Category 5 (150 kt), 925 hPa
  • Betty (1987)7 August 1987 to 17 August 1987, peak Category 5 (140 kt), 890 hPa
  • Iris (1951)28 April 1951 to 14 May 1951, Category 4 (130 kt) near here, peak Category 5 (150 kt), 909 hPa
  • Wilma (1952)21 October 1952 to 31 October 1952, Category 4 (130 kt) near here, peak Category 5 (160 kt), 930 hPa

Most recent storms near Samar

  • Unnamed storm of December 2025 (Western North Pacific)4 December 2025 to 7 December 2025, peak Unknown intensity
  • Kalmaegi (2025)31 October 2025 to 7 November 2025, Category 2 (89 kt) near here, peak Category 4 (115 kt), 950 hPa, provisional
  • Bualoi (2025)22 September 2025 to 30 September 2025, Tropical storm (60 kt) near here, peak Category 1 (80 kt), 975 hPa, provisional

Many of these storms killed people and destroyed homes. The figures are the official record's, and this page says nothing about their human cost.

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