Tropical cyclones in 2010
Storm Name Dates Active Max wind mph ( km/h ) Min pressure ( mbar ) Areas Affected Damage ( USD ) Deaths
Fami February 1 - 3 80 ( 50 ) 994 Madagascar None None
08F February 2 - 4 55 ( 35 ) 997 French Polynesia , Cook Islands None None
Pat February 6 - 11 140 ( 85 ) 960 Cook Islands $ 13.7 million None
Rene February 9 - 17 155 ( 100 ) 955 Samoan Islands , Tonga $ 18 million None
08U February 22 - 24 Not Specified Not Specified Northern Territory None None
Gelane February 15 - 22 205 ( 125 ) 930 Reunion , Mauritius , Rodrigues , Madagascar None None
Sarah February 17 - March 3 65 ( 40 ) 995 Cook Islands Unknown None
Systems -- February
Cyclone Gelane The month of February was quite inactive , with only seven tropical cyclones forming , with five becoming named storms .
Tropical cyclones of 2010 were spread across seven oceanic basins in their respective seasons; the strongest of these tropical cyclones was Typhoon Megi, which strengthened to a minimum barometric pressure of 885 mbar (hPa; 26.13 inHg) before striking the east coast of Luzon in the Philippines. Regional Specialized Meteorological Centers (RSMC) and Tropical Cyclone Warning Centers (TCWC) designated names to 70 systems worldwide, of which 46 occurred in the northern hemisphere while 21 developed in the southern hemisphere. The most active basin in 2010 was the North Atlantic, which documented 19 named systems, while the North Indian Ocean, despite only amounting to five named systems, was its basin's most active since 1998. Conversely, both the West Pacific typhoon and East Pacific hurricane seasons experienced the least number of cyclones reaching tropical storm intensity in recorded history, numbering 14 and 8, respectively. Activity across the southern hemisphere's three basins - South-West Indian, Australian, and South Pacific - was spread evenly, with each region recording seven named storms apiece. That hemisphere's strongest tropical cyclone was Cyclone Edzani, which bottomed out with a barometric pressure of 910 mbar (hPa; 26.88 inHg) in the South-West Indian Ocean. The costliest tropical cyclone in 2010 was Hurricane Karl, which struck the Veracruz, Mexico area in September, causing US$5.6 billion in damage. Hurricane Alex and tropical storms Matthew, and Agatha were the only other tropical cyclones worldwide in 2010 to accrue over US$1 billion in damage. Agatha was also the year's deadliest storm, killing 190 people primarily in Guatemala after lasting for only one day over the waters of the East Pacific. Tropical cyclone activity monitoring in each basin is officially under the purview of seven RSMCs. Both serving under the United States National Weather Service, the National Hurricane Center (NHC) monitors the North Atlantic and East Pacific, while the Central Pacific Hurricane Center (CPHC) monitors the central Pacific. Pacific typhoons are tracked by the Japan Meteorological Agency (JMA) while cyclones in the North Indian Ocean are tracked by the Indian Meteorological Department (IMD).