Why is there so many storms in the west Pacific?

[year_2005]

What causes the west pacific to be so active?

[WeatherLovingDoc]

What causes the west pacific to be so active?

I've been wondering this myself, year_2005, since the El Nino effects are putatively winding down. Alas, I have no idea.

[RL3AO]

Pretty simple. Its big and warm.

Actually its probably a little more complex, but thats most of it.

[bob rulz]

Indeed, the West Pacific simply has a large area of very warm water in which storms can develop with little land in the way.

Just look at this simplified global water temperature map, and compare the temps throughout the West Pacific with those anywhere else in the world:



Obviously a number of other conditions have to come together as well, but this is definitely the primary reasoning.

[Chacor]

The West Pacific usually also has very active monsoon troughs within the ITCZ which can spin up two or even three storms from the same trough at times. That's rarely seen in the Atlantic.

[Ptarmigan]

Large areas of warm water and not a lot of landmass to interfere. Also, there are monsoonal troughs that spin up thunderstorms into tropical cyclones.