Trade winds cruising in an El Nino year

[sneuman]

Originally Posted by SV Windrush II

Hello guys, so I'm taking off from Seattle bound for California next month and then crossing to Hawaii, then Philippines. The hope is to reach the Philippine sea after the typhoon season is over. Usually in October, but we have seen typhoons in November still hitting the Philippines.
Any good info would be great. Thanks

All I can tell you is that late-season and post-season typhoons have become increasingly common in recent years. We were caught in one (in 2005) in the SCS circa Nov. 1.

Be very cautious. If it's a low hanging off the east coast of the Philippines anytime before the end of Dec., treat it as a developing typhoon. Don't assume it's going to peter out. Perhaps they've gotten better in the past decade, but the Japanese Met office got the forecast wrong in our case.