January was very active, as it opened with Tropical Storm Pabuk (2019), the earliest-forming tropical storm in the Western Pacific, beating Typhoon Alice (1979), it was also the first system in the 2019 North Indian Ocean cyclone season, as Pabuk crossed the boundary as a tropical storm, right after its Malaysian landfall, before it disappeared due to wind shear. Tropical Depression 01W formed near the Marshall Islands, where a day later, it dissipated, but after crossing into the Philippine Sea, the depression regenerated into Tropical Depression Amang, and made landfall in the Samar region, where it soon dissipated, but floods from tropical depression Amang resulted in a million-peso damage and 10 deaths in Mindanao.