Vietnam typhoon season: which months hit which coast

Vietnam typhoon season is usually given as June to November, but the busy months are not the same along the coast. In the storm tracks we counted for 1991 to 2025, the north is hit most in July and August, the central coast in September, and Nha Trang and Da Lat in November. The far south is rarely hit.

What the official advice says

The US Embassy's weather alert, dated 17 June 2026, says typhoon season runs from June to the end of November. It adds that tropical cyclones from the southern hemisphere are a risk from 1 November to 30 April. The UK government says the season normally runs from May to November, and that storms can happen at other times.

Both warn that the danger is not only at the coast. The embassy says areas far from the coastline can still see dangerous winds, tornadoes, landslides and flash floods, and that flooding can reach a long way downstream.

Storm counts by place and month

We counted storms in NOAA's best-track archive, IBTrACS. A storm counts for a place when its track came within 150 km of the map pin while the recorded wind was at least tropical-storm strength (34 knots). The table covers the 35 seasons from 1991 to 2025. Each row counts that place alone, so one storm can appear in several rows.

Outside June to December the counts are small: one storm each in March at Quy Nhon, Nha Trang and Da Lat, and one in April at Ho Chi Minh City.

Reading the table

In the north the counts peak in July and August. Ha Long Bay has 12 in July and 10 in August, and Hanoi has 9 in August. The central pins peak in September: Hue has 13, Hoi An and Da Nang 11, and Phong Nha 9. Quy Nhon, Nha Trang and Da Lat peak in November, with October second. Con Dao has more storms in December, with 4, than in any other month.

Storm counts and rainfall do not peak together. At Hue, Hoi An and Da Nang, and Phong Nha, the count peaks in September, while the wettest month in the station tables is October (Hue 772.7 mm). Our central Vietnam in October article covers that month, and rain days against millimeters explains why the totals can mislead.

The far south has almost no storms in the record: 3 each at Ho Chi Minh City and the Mekong Delta, and 1 at Phu Quoc. It still has a rainy season, which the UK advice puts at June to September for the north and the south. The station rainfall is in our month-by-month guide.

What the counts do not say

This is our own counting rule, not an official figure, and the radius matters. For Hanoi the count is 22 storms at 100 km, 28 at 150 km and 43 at 200 km. The same rule gives Sa Pa 3, 8 and 15. Compare places with each other, not with a number from another source.

The counts also leave out several things:

• They say nothing about damage, rainfall or where a storm made landfall.
• They use one agency's wind, the US Joint Typhoon Warning Center's, and best tracks are revised after each season.
• Inland places such as Sa Pa and Ha Giang are probably undercounted, because a track can stop being followed once a storm weakens over land.
• The file covers the West Pacific only, so it does not include the southern-hemisphere cyclones the embassy mentions.
• A place with a low count is not safe from flooding in a storm that passes farther away.

Following a storm

During a storm, the US Embassy tells citizens to follow the US Joint Typhoon Warning Center and the Vietnam National Center for Hydro-Meteorological Forecasting, whose English site is linked in the references. It also advises enrolling in the State Department's STEP alert service, keeping documents in a waterproof place, charging phones, and having three days of water and food. Forecast paths can change with little notice, so follow any evacuation order.

For the rest of the safety advice, see the health and safety page.

References

• NOAA NCEI, International Best Track Archive for Climate Stewardship (IBTrACS), version 4r01, West Pacific file: https://www.ncei.noaa.gov/products/international-best-track-archive. DOI 10.25921/82ty-9e16. Checked 2026-10.
• Knapp, K. R., M. C. Kruk, D. H. Levinson, H. J. Diamond, and C. J. Neumann, 2010: The International Best Track Archive for Climate Stewardship (IBTrACS). Bulletin of the American Meteorological Society, 91, 363-376.
• US Embassy and Consulate in Vietnam, weather alert on typhoon and tropical cyclone seasons, 17 June 2026: https://vn.usembassy.gov/weather-alert-typhoon-and-tropical-cyclone-seasons-in-vietnam/. Checked 2026-10.
• UK FCDO travel advice for Vietnam, safety and security: https://www.gov.uk/foreign-travel-advice/vietnam/safety-and-security. Checked 2026-09.
• Vietnam National Center for Hydro-Meteorological Forecasting, English site: https://kttv.gov.vn/KttvsiteE/en-US/2/index.html. Checked 2026-10.
• Smart Traveler Enrollment Program (STEP): https://step.state.gov/. Checked 2026-10.
• QCVN 02:2022/BXD, climate data for construction: https://datafiles.chinhphu.vn/cpp/files/vbpq/2022/10/02-bxd.pdf. Checked 2026-09.

Photo: Hòn Nội, Nha Trang Bay, Vietnam.jpg, Minh Duc Ly, Public domain, https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:H%C3%B2n_N%E1%BB%99i,_Nha_Trang_Bay,_Vietnam.jpg

Data checked: October 2026.