Typhoon Kalmaegi

Typhoon Kalmaegi, known in the Philippines as Typhoon Helen, was the seventh named storm and the fifth typhoon that was recognised by the Japan Meteorological Agency. The Joint Typhoon Warning Center also recognised it as the eighth tropical depression, the seventh tropical storm and the sixth typhoon of the 2008 Pacific typhoon season. Kalmaegi (Helen) formed as a tropical depression on 13 July when it was located to the east of the Philippines. It was named Kalmaegi by RSMC Tokyo on 15 July; the storm reached its peak winds of on 17 July. Shortly afterwards it made a direct landfall on Taiwan and then moved into China's Fujan province the next day it emerged into the Taiwan Strait and raced towards North Korea where it became fully extratropical and the last advisories were released. Meteorological history Early on July 13, the Japan Meteorological Agency (JMA), began to issue full advisories on a tropical depression, which was located to the east of the Philippines. Later that day PAGASA allocated the name Helen to the depression, followed the next day by the Joint Typhoon Warning Center (JTWC) designating the number 08W. Early on July 15, both the JTWC, and the JMA upgraded the depression to tropical storm status, with RSMC Tokyo assigning the name "Kalmaegi" to the storm, which was submitted by North Korea and is Korean for seagull. Early on the 17th, Kalmaegi began rapidly intensifying; JMA was the first agency to upgrade it into a typhoon. JTWC followed a few hours later. Finally, PAGASA upgraded Kalmaegi (Helen) into a typhoon on later that day.