Since moving to Siargao in September 2022, we have now experienced 4 typhoon seasons and each one has been slightly different.
Generally speaking, the peak typhoon period of the year is from November – January in line with the rainy season.
Typhoon Odette’s impact on Siargao
Historically, Siargao isn’t prone to experiencing typhoons as the majority of the ones that form near Guam, end up tracking further north and affecting Samar Island and Catanduanes Island.
However, Typhoon Odette slammed into Siargao on December 16th 2021 and it was hugely destructive. It quickly gained intensity just 24 hours before it was set to make landfall giving the island very little time to actually prepare – hence the amount of damage it caused.
Here you can see on the Phivolcs page the extent of destruction in Siargao and the rest of the path it took – https://asti.dost.gov.ph/resources/media-release/philippine-satellite-watch-wrath-of-typhoon-odette-as-seen-from-space/
When we arrived, we could see how the island was still recovering – both in buildings being restored and coconut trees beginning to grow new leaves. The view at Coconut Viewpoint was still pretty sparse.
Siargao Typhoon Season Experiences
In our first year here, I remember us having some pretty spectacular storms and lots of heavy rain – the island experienced some terrible flooding but I don’t remember any named typhoons passing close by to Siargao.
In 2023 (I’ve just been checking back on my WhatsApp messages), there was a potential threat of a typhoon coming close to Siargao in mid November but then it lost its momentum and just became a regular storm.
In 2024, again there was a threat of a typhoon in early November but then it also lost momentum – this can happen a lot to be honest. We find it best to prepare for the worst with our back ups in place and celebrate when it doesn’t strike.
However later in November, an actual named typhoon was forming out to the east of Siargao near Guam called Pepito / Man-Yi and from the Google DeepMind route – https://deepmind.google.com/science/go/UUgHFuhcrVFQWbnw – you can see how it’s coming towards Siargao but then tracks up north and makes landfall with Catanduanes Island.
Typhoon Kalamegi
Last year, we had Typhoon Kalamegi arriving the day after my birthday on November 3rd 2025 which was a bit of a thrill ride! Here you can see its path on Google DeepMind – https://deepmind.google.com/science/go/mKLzkqHvWu6y4By9 – and this time it did not look like it was going to move north and instead pass over Siargao.
This was the first time that we actually made serious preparations and ended up staying the night in Coco Space because our house is near the beach whereas Coco Space is 20m above sea level and a full concrete structure.
It was meant to make landfall in the mid afternoon and there were reports of 3m storm surges and the Philippines Government had released warnings to seek shelter at higher ground.
We (speaking collectively for Siargao) actually got extremely lucky with this typhoon – it only really reached Category 2 level and yes it was windy and raining, but the damage the morning after was very minor in comparison to Odette. Lighter vegetation like banana trees, papaya trees etc suffered damage and we could see a lot of nipa bits but all the palm trees kept their tops.
Jamie was pretty insistent that we were to evacuate our house and I had a terrible cold so just wanted to stay in bed and in hindsight, we could have done that but it was good in a way to test our evacuation plans!
What have been my key takeaways from living in Siargao in typhoon season?
As each year passes, I’ve definitely become more interested in the weather because it’s a lot more dramatic here than in the UK!
These are the things we try to do to stay informed and not panic:
- Keep an eye on trusted sources for the predictions which include the updates coming from the Philippines DOST-PAGASA site, following the ECMWF predictions on Windy and checking the Google DeepMind Weather Lab predictions.
- The local government in General Luna also posts updates on their Facebook page here – https://www.facebook.com/generallunasdn.gov.ph – sharing what evacuation centres are open and how to prepare.
- If you’re living here, stocking up on water, canned goods and making sure everything is charged and you have some torches / re-chargable LED lights. We also bought back from the UK some water filtration straws if the worst was to happen.
- If you’re here on holiday, keep an eye on the sites above for the forecast and give yourself time to travel between Siargao and your next destination – flights can be cancelled on the day and the day after. Generally flights have more risk of cancellation this time of the year anyways due to the rain. I’ve touched on more about cancelled flights in my other post here about the Siargao rainy season.
