The 2009 Pacific typhoon season was a below average season that spawned only 22 named storms, 13 typhoons, and five super typhoons. It was also recognized as the deadliest season in the Philippines for decades. The first half of the season was very quiet whereas the second half of the season was extremely active. The season's first named storm, Kujira, developed on May 3 while the season's last named storm, Nida, dissipated on December 3.

Typhoon Morakot, known in the Philippines as Typhoon Kiko, was the deadliest typhoon to impact Taiwan in recorded history. The eighth named storm and fourth typhoon of the 2009 Pacific typhoon season, Morakot wrought catastrophic damage in Taiwan, killing 673 people and leaving 26 people missing, and causing roughly NT$110 billion (US$3.3 billion) in damages. Morakot originated as a tropical depression in the West Pacific on August 2. The system initially moved northeastward, before taking a westward track, developing into a tropical storm on August 3, with the JMA giving it the name Morakot. The storm gradually strengthened as it moved towards Taiwan, intensifying into a Category 1-equivalent typhoon on August 5. Morakot reached its peak intensity on August 7, with a minimum central pressure of 945 millibars (27.9 inHg), maximum 10-minute sustained winds of 140 km/h (85 mph), and maximum 1-minute sustained winds of 150 km/h (90 mph). Afterward, Morakot's forward motion slowed and the system gradually weakened, making landfall on central Taiwan later that day as a severe tropical storm. Over the next day, Morakot slowly meandered over Taiwan, before emerging into the Taiwan Strait and turning northward, making landfall on Mainland China on August 9. Afterward, Morakot accelerated northward while gradually weakening, before later turning northeastward. On August 11, Morakot degenerated into a remnant low in the East China Sea, before dissipating on August 13, over northern Japan.