The 1993 Pacific typhoon season was the most active season for the Philippines, seeing a total of 32 storms forming or entering their area of responsibility. Overall, it was an average season, spawning 28 tropical storms, 15 typhoons and three super typhoons. The season had no official bounds; it ran year-round in 1993, but most tropical cyclones tend to form in the northwestern Pacific Ocean between May and November. These dates conventionally delimit the period of each year when most tropical cyclones form in the northwestern Pacific Ocean.

China Airlines Flight 605 was a daily non-stop flight departing from Taipei at 6:30 a.m. and arriving at Kai Tak Airport in Hong Kong at 7:00 a.m. local time. On November 4, 1993, the plane went off the runway and overran while landing during a storm. It was the first hull loss of a Boeing 747-400.