The 2016 Pacific typhoon season is considered to have been the fourth-latest start for a Pacific typhoon season since reliable records began. It was an average season, with a total of 26 named storms, 13 typhoons, and six super typhoons. The season ran throughout 2016, though typically most tropical cyclones develop between May and November. The season's first named storm, Nepartak, developed on July 3, while the season's last named storm, Nock-ten, dissipated on December 28.

The development of Nepartak made the second-latest time within a season for the first named storm to develop and ended a 199-day period (from December 17, 2015 – July 3, 2016) during which no named storm was active in the basin. Tropical Storm Mirinae reached peak intensity while making landfall over the Red River Delta, causing very severe damage in Northern Vietnam. By the end of August, three storms had hit the Japanese island of Hokkaidō, the most since 1951. In September, Typhoon Meranti reached peak intensity with a minimum pressure of 890 hPa, becoming one of the most intense tropical cyclones on record. Typhoon Chaba became the strongest typhoon to strike South Korea since 2012. Tropical Storm Aere and a tropical depression brought the worst flooding in Vietnam since 2011. The last storm of the season, Typhoon Nock-ten, became the strongest tropical cyclone ever recorded worldwide on Christmas Day (December 25) since at least 1960, in terms of 1-minute maximum sustained winds.

The scope of this article is limited to the Pacific Ocean to the north of the equator between 100°E and 180th meridian. Within the northwestern Pacific Ocean, there are two separate agencies that assign names to tropical cyclones which can often result in a cyclone having two names. The Japan Meteorological Agency (JMA) will name a tropical cyclone should it be judged to have 10-minute sustained wind speeds of at least 65 km/h (40 mph) anywhere in the basin, whilst the Philippine Atmospheric, Geophysical and Astronomical Services Administration (PAGASA) assigns names to tropical cyclones which move into or form as a tropical depression in the Philippine Area of Responsibility (PAR) located between 135°E and 115°E and between 5°N–25°N regardless of whether or not a tropical cyclone has already been given a name by the JMA. Tropical depressions that are monitored by the United States' Joint Typhoon Warning Center (JTWC) are given a number with a "W" suffix.

During the year several national meteorological services and scientific agencies forecast how many tropical cyclones, tropical storms, and typhoons will form during a season and/or how many tropical cyclones will affect a particular country. These agencies included the Tropical Storm Risk (TSR) Consortium of University College London, PAGASA and Taiwan's Central Weather Bureau. Some of the forecasts took into consideration what happened in previous seasons and the El Niño conditions that were observed during the previous year. The first forecast of the year was released by PAGASA during January 2016, within its seasonal climate outlook for the period January – June. The outlook noted that one to two tropical cyclones were expected between January and March, while one to three were expected to develop or enter the Philippine Area of Responsibility between April and June.

During March the Hong Kong Observatory predicted that the typhoon season in Hong Kong would be near-normal, with four to seven tropical cyclones passing within 500 km (310 mi) of the territory compared to an average of six, which was revised to five to eight tropical cyclones in August. On May 7, Tropical Storm Risk issued its first forecast for the season and predicted that it will be a quiet season, with 22 tropical storms, 13 typhoons, and 6 intense typhoons developing during the year, while an ACE Index of 217 was also forecast. Ahead of the Thailand rainy season starting during May, the Thai Meteorological Department predicted that two tropical cyclones would move near Thailand during 2016. They predicted that there was a high chance that the first tropical cyclone would move past northern and north-eastern Thailand during August or September. The second tropical cyclone was predicted to move past Southern Thailand during October and November. On June 28, Taiwan's Central Weather Bureau predicted that between 19 and 23 tropical storms would develop over the basin, while two — four systems were expected to affect Taiwan itself.

On July 6, TSR released their second forecast for the season. They predicted mostly the same numbers as the previous forecast, but raised the number of intense typhoons to 7. PAGASA issued their second and final forecast for the year on July 15, within its seasonal climate outlook for the period July – December. The outlook noted that between five and eleven tropical cyclones were expected between July and September, while four to nine were expected to develop or enter the Philippine Area of Responsibility between October and December. TSR issued their final forecast for the season on August 8, sustaining the tropical cyclone numbers, however its ACE was slightly lowered than the previous forecast.

Despite the season's late start, the 2016 season was a normal and active season with a total of 53 tropical depressions, of which 26 became tropical storms. After five months of inactivity, the first tropical depression developed on May 26, making it the fifth-latest season for a system to form. According to existing records only four other seasons started later—the 1973, 1983, 1984, and 1998 seasons. Tropical activity throughout the basin became marginally favorable for development, and two tropical depressions developed during June. On July 3, Nepartak became the first named tropical storm, making it the second-latest first named storm on record. Nepartak's naming ended a 199-day period (from December 17, 2015, to July 2, 2016) during which no named storm was active within the basin; this period tied the 199-day period from December 22, 1997, to July 8, 1998. Nepartak reached Category 5 super typhoon intensity before making landfall in Taiwan and East China, causing a total of US$1.52 billion of damage. In late July, Tropical Storm Mirinae reached its peak intensity while making landfall over Red River Delta in Northern Vietnam. The storm caused a total of US$334 million of damage in Hainan and Vietnam. Later, Nida reached near typhoon strength; it affected the Philippines, South China and Vietnam, but its damage was lower than that of Mirinae. The season became more active in August, with 7 named storms. Except Dianmu, which affected South China, Indochina, all of the tropical cyclones in August affected Japan and the Russian Far East. By the end of August, three storms (Chanthu, Lionrock and Kompasu) had hit the Japanese island of Hokkaidō, the most since 1951. Lionrock was a large, powerful, long-lived and erratic tropical cyclone which caused significant flooding and casualties in North Korea and Japan in late August.

In September, Typhoon Meranti became the strongest typhoon in terms of pressure since Typhoon Megi in 2010, as well as the strongest typhoon in terms of sustained winds since Typhoon Haiyan in 2013, and the second-strongest tropical cyclone worldwide in 2016, only behind Cyclone Winston, in terms of pressure. Typhoon Megi reached its peak intensity as a Category 3 typhoon while making landfall over Taiwan. Both Meranti and Megi made landfall in Fujian, China, and they caused a total of US$3.6 billion of damage. Rai became a weak tropical storm before it made landfall in Vietnam, Laos and Thailand in mid-September, causing flooding and moderate damage. Typhoon Malakas impacted Japan with a total of nearly $740 million of damage as a Category 4 typhoon. In late September and early October, Typhoon Chaba reached Category 5 super typhoon intensity and became the strongest tropical cyclone to make landfall in South Korea since Sanba in 2012. Chaba also caused 7 deaths in the country. A tropical depression formed east of the International Date Line on October 3, and entered the basin before developing into Typhoon Songda. Songda struck the Pacific Northwest region of the United States and Canada as a powerful extratropical cyclone. Severe Tropical Storm Aere affected parts of Southeast Asia in mid-October, including the worst flooding in Vietnam since 2010, causing a total of US$209 million of damage. Later, Typhoon Sarika became a powerful typhoon, and affected the Philippines, China and Vietnam, causing severe damage as well as severe flooding in southern China. After Sarika, Typhoon Haima reached Category 5 super typhoon strength before impacting the Philippines and China, causing a total of US$1.93 billion in damages. Haima was the most severe tropical cyclone to affect Hong Kong in October since 1995. In early November, a tropical depression made landfall in Southern Vietnam and caused heavy flooding throughout central and southern Vietnam, causing moderate damage. In late December, Nock-ten became the strongest Christmas tropical cyclone on record anywhere in the world since at least 1960 in terms of 1-minute sustained winds, before impacting the Philippines.