Typhoon Megi, known in the Philippines as Super Typhoon Juan, was the strongest tropical cyclone of 2010 and is considered one of the most intense ever recorded. Megi, which means catfish in Korean, was the only super typhoon in 2010. Early on October 18, Megi made its first landfall over Luzon. By passing Luzon, Megi weakened but gradually regained strength in the South China Sea, before weakening and losing its eye in the Taiwan Strait. Megi made its second landfall over Zhangpu in Fujian, China on October 23.

During 2010, tropical cyclones formed within seven different tropical cyclone basins, located within various parts of the Atlantic, Pacific and Indian Oceans. During the year, a total of 111 tropical cyclones developed, with 64 of them being named by either a Regional Specialized Meteorological Center (RSMC) or a Tropical Cyclone Warning Center (TCWC). The most active basin was the North Atlantic, which documented 19 named systems, while the North Indian Ocean, despite only amounting to five named systems, was its basin's most active since 1998. Conversely, both the West Pacific typhoon and East Pacific hurricane seasons experienced the fewest cyclones reaching tropical storm intensity in recorded history, numbering 14 and 8, respectively. Activity across the southern hemisphere's three basins—South-West Indian, Australian, and South Pacific—was spread evenly, with each region recording 7 named storms apiece. The southern hemisphere's strongest tropical cyclone was Cyclone Edzani, which bottomed out with a barometric pressure of 910 mbar in the South-West Indian Ocean. Nineteen Category 3 tropical cyclones formed, including four Category 5 tropical cyclones in the year. The accumulated cyclone energy (ACE) index for the 2010, as calculated by Colorado State University was 573.8 units.