Super Typhoon Kirogi (2023)

Super Typhoon Kirogi, called by the JMA Typhoon Kirogi and known in both North and South Korea as the Great 2023 Typhoon was the worst natural disaster in the history of North Korea.

The storm also is the strongest on record in terms of wind speed and second most intense in terms of pressure behind Typhoon Tip of 1979.

The storm made the only Category 5 landfall ever documented on the Korean peninsula on April 5.

Meteorological history
Through much of March, a large area of disturbed weather existed roughly 1,800-2,000 miles southeast of Guam, mainly just east of the International Date Line.

On March 17, the area of disturbed weather crossed the International Date Line, and the JTWC classified it as Tropical Depression 21W on March 20.

The JMA would also begin tracking it as 16W that evening, and early that night it became Tropical Storm Kirogi.

Kirogi faced wind shear of 10 to 15 knots and water temperatures of 70-75°F in it's immediate path, which warranted for slow yet steady intensification.

By March 21, Kirogi had winds of 65 mph and a pressure of 987 mbar. At this point, water temperatures in the immediate path had increased to 75-80°F, and wind shear had decreased to 5 to 10 knots. On March 22, Kirogi became a typhoon and water temperatures were increasing to around 85-90°F across the area, with wind shear of around 5 knots maximum.

Water temperatures were approaching 95°F while wind shear was roughly 2-3 knots on March 23, which allowed explosive intensification into a Category 4 super typhoon by March 24.

A eye was evident by March 25, and the clouds cleared the eye around 16:00 UTC on March 25 as it moved north of Guam.

The storm likely would've been even stronger had it not been for a eyewall replacement cycle on March 25, which weakened the storm from 155 to 145 mph. Finally, early on March 26. as the storm passed northwest of Guam, the eye had became evident enough and temperatures were nearing those of Hurricane Dorian of 2019 in the North Atlantic, to upgrade Kirogi to a Category 5 super typhoon with 1-minute sustained winds of 175 mph.

By early on March 27, the storm had 10-minute sustained winds of 145 mph, and 1-minute sustained winds of 195 mph, with a pressure of 886 mbar.

The JMA posted typhoon watches and warnings for much of the Ryukyu Islands on March 27 as Kirogi approached wind speeds of 205 mph, and gusts of as high as 240 mph.

A eyewall replacement cycle would weaken Kirogi to have winds of 180 mph that night, and many presumed that Kirogi would not have enough time to re-intensify into a 200+ mph storm, as the environment was no longer favorable for rapid intensification.

The JMA from here forecast gradual weakening of Kirogi over March 29, however Kirogi entered a favorable atmosphere that morning with record water temperatures as high as 100°F and wind shear only topping at 2 knots, which allowed for extreme intensification. In 6 hours, Kirogi intensified 45 mph from 175 mph to 220 mph, and it's pressure dropped 37 mbars from 909 mbar to 872 mbar. Kirogi held this intensity for roughly 12 hours before it began gradually weakening.

Kirogi had weakened to a 210 mph Category 5 super typhoon by March 30, before undergoing considerable weakening on April 1 to a 170 mph Category 5 by the time it hit the Ryukyu Islands on April 2.

From here it weakened to a Category 4 super typhoon, on April 3 the storm began slowly re-intensifying as it pulled northeast. Kim Jong-un stated that he was "afraid" that this could've be the worst case scenario for North Korea.

By April 5, the storm was a 155 mph Category 4 super typhoon, a unprecedented typhoon for the Korean peninsula, and it made landfall at around 21:00 UTC about 20 miles west of Pyongyang with winds of 165 mph, making it a Category 5 super typhoon, the strongest typhoon ever to strike Korea.

Kirogi could not survive the mountainous nature of North Korea, and with wind shear nearing 30 knots and temperatures of only around 45-50°F, by that afternoon it was a minimal Category 3 typhoon.

By the next morning, Kirogi was in southeastern Russia, and managed to hold it's intensity, albeit with temperatures dropping below 40°F and wind shear of nearly 25 knots.

Kirogi managed to dump snow in Vladivostok, up to 6 inches of it in spots, while it dumped as much as 24 inches of rain across large parts of Manchuria and southeastern Russia.

Kirogi finally transitioned into a post-tropical cyclone on April 7, and it's remnants were absorbed by a jet stream on April 9.

Aftermath
Due to it's unprecedented intensity, very high death toll and damage, the WMO retired Kirogi in Spring 2024, the name Kirogi will never again be used for a typhoon.

It was replaced by Kwai-un for use in the 2027 season. The North Korean floods of 2023 that were sparked as a result of Kirogi resulted in nearly 100,000 people starving to death.