Typhoon Tembin, known in the Philippines as Typhoon Vinta, was the deadliest tropical cyclone to strike Mindanao since Typhoon Bopha in 2012. Following and impacting the Philippines less than a few days after the deadly Tropical Storm Kai-tak, Tembin, which means Libra in Japanese, the twenty-seventh named storm and the eleventh typhoon of the 2017 Pacific typhoon season. It was first classified as a weak tropical depression on December 16. The system gradually intensified and consolidated into a tropical storm on December 20. Tembin made landfall in Mindanao late the next day. On December 23, Tembin followed a path towards the South China Sea and intensified into a typhoon early the following day. Quick intensification ensued and Tembin reached its peak intensity as a low-end Category 2 typhoon as assessed by the Joint Typhoon Warning Center on December 24. Unfavorable conditions enhanced by the winter monsoon caused Tembin to rapidly weaken shortly afterwards, before it ultimately dissipated on December 26 while just south of Vietnam.

Typhoon Bopha, known in the Philippines as Super Typhoon Pablo, was the strongest tropical cyclone on record to ever affect the Philippine island of Mindanao, making landfall as a Category 5 super typhoon with winds of 175 mph (282 km/h). The twenty-fourth tropical storm, along with being the fourth and final super typhoon of the 2012 Pacific typhoon season, Bopha originated unusually close to the equator, becoming the second-most southerly Category 5 super typhoon, reaching a minimum latitude of 7.4°N on December 3, 2012, as only Typhoon Louise of 1964 came closer to the equator at this strength, at 7.3°N. After first making landfall in Palau, where it destroyed houses, disrupted communications and caused power outages, flooding and uprooted trees, Bopha made landfall late on December 3 in Mindanao. The storm caused widespread destruction on Mindanao, leaving thousands of people homeless and killing 1,901 people.