the northwest Pacific basin in January in six years. Forming along the near equatorial trough, two circulations formed on either side of Guam. Elsie formed from the eastern circulation, appearing southwest of Pohnpei on January 4. On January 5, further convective development occurred which formed a low level circulation on January 6. Becoming a tropical depression late that day and a tropical storm on January 7, the system moved northwest, reaching its peak intensity late in the day. Thereafter, strong southerly winds aloft arrested development, and weakening began. Tropical depression status was regained on January 8, and its circulation dissipated early January 9. Tropical Depression A tropical depression formed east of Luzon on April 22. Moving east-northeast for a couple days, the system dissipated on April 24 north-northwest of Guam. Typhoon Gay (Bining) Gay was the third tropical cyclone and first typhoon of the 1985 Pacific typhoon season. After over four months of inactivity, on May 16, a strong atmospheric circulation formed west of Koror, now part of Palau. The circulation began to develop convection and by May 20 had organized into a depression. Heading north, the storm took two days to gain tropical storm strength, likely because a tropical upper tropospheric trough (TUTT) was so close to the north, restricting outflow. However, the trough soon weakened and outflow improved and the storm began to intensify faster. Gay became a typhoon early on May 23, continuing to intensify, Gay came under influence of a frontal boundary to the northwest and began to recurve to the northeast, through a weakness in the subtropical ridge created by the trough associated with the frontal boundary. This trough began to build and dig southeastward, pouring fuel into Gay's engine. Typhoon Gay reached its peak intensity of 100 knots (115 mph, 185 km/h) on May 24. As cool, dry air became entrained within Gay's circulation, the cyclone began to weaken. Gay underwent extratropical transition as it interacted with the frontal boundary. Gay became extratropical shortly after weakening to a tropical storm early on May 26. Tropical Storm 04W This system formed within the northern portion of the monsoon trough on June 16. Strong northeast winds aloft kept its circulation center on the northeast side of its stronger thunderstorm activity. The system drifted generally northwest, making landfall on Hainan Island before dissipating. While never upgraded by the Joint Typhoon Warning Center, the Japanese Meteorological Agency considered