Typhoon Guchol, known in the Philippines as Typhoon Butchoy, was a powerful tropical cyclone which became the first typhoon to make landfall in Japan on June since 2004. The storm formed as tropical disturbance south-southeast of Pohnpei on June 7, and was upgraded to a tropical depression on June 10. The system later intensified in favorable conditions, and reached typhoon intensity on June 15. It reached peak intensity late on June 17, before making landfall over Japan as a typhoon on June 19. The system became extratropical shortly after traversing Japan and was last noted by the Japan Meteorological Agency on June 22.
Authorities issued evacuation orders for more than 150,000 people in central, eastern and northeastern Japan, Kyodo News said, with warnings of dangerous landslides from the heavy rain. Heavy rains and strong winds affected much of Honshu as the storm moved across the region. One person was killed and fifty-two others were injured across the country.
The name "Guchol" means "turmeric" in a Micronesian language.
Meteorological history
In early June, a tropical disturbance, embedded within the end of a monsoon trough, formed to the southeast of Guam. The Joint Typhoon Warning Center (JTWC) then started to monitor the system late on June 7, as it had scattered deep convection over its poorly-defined low-level circulation center (LLCC), but was under an environment of sea surface temperatures, low vertical wind shear, good divergence and enhanced poleward outflow. As the system moved westward, it significantly organized, prompting the JTWC to issue a Tropical Cyclone Formation Alert (TCFA) by the next day. However, the JTWC canceled the TCFA late on June 9, as its center became elongated. The system then started to reorganize by the next day, and by June 11, the Japan Meteorological Agency (JMA) upgraded the system into a tropical depression. The JTWC later followed suit, as formative bands wrapped around its center. As it continued westward, the system struggled to organize, with its center becoming ill-defined.
By 03:00 UTC the next day, the JTWC reported that the tropical depression had intensified into a tropical storm, as improved convective banding began wrapping into its center. The JMA upgraded the storm three hours later, naming it as Guchol. Over the next few days, Guchol slowly intensified, as convection continued to wrap into the system. By 00:00 UTC on June 14, the JMA upgraded Guchol to a severe tropical storm. It subsequently entered the Philippine Area of Responsibility, with the PAGASA naming it locally as Butchoy. At 15:00 UTC, the JTWC upgraded the system to a Category 1-equivalent typhoon on the Saffir-Simpson scale, as it built a central dense overcast. By the next day, it further strengthened to a Category 2-equivalent typhoon, as an outflow channel became apparent while it took a north-northwestward turn around the western periphery of the subtropical ridge. At 21:00 UTC that same day, the JTWC upgraded Guchol to a Category 3-equivalent typhoon. The JMA upgraded Guchol to a typhoon three hours later, on June 16. Nine hours later, Guchol strengthened into a Category 4-equivalent typhoon, as a symmetric eye formed. Guchol ultimately reached its peak intensity at 18:00 UTC that same day, with 10-minute sustained winds of and a central pressure of , according to the JMA. The JTWC estimated Guchol to have 1-minute sustained winds of , although it noted that the system's eye had become less symmetric.