The typhoon raised global media attention, as it greatly affected the 2019 Rugby World Cup being hosted by Japan.

[3] Hagibis developed from a tropical disturbance located a couple hundred miles north of the Marshall Islands on October 2, 2019.

On the next day, October 3, both the Japan Meteorological Agency and the Joint Typhoon Warning Center began issuing advisories on Tropical Depression 20W.

Edging closer to the uninhabited areas of the Mariana Islands, Hagibis displayed excellent convection as well as a well-defined circulation.

The system developed a pinhole eye and made landfall on the Northern Mariana Islands at peak intensity, with 10-minute sustained winds of 105 kn (195 km/h; 120 mph) and a central pressure of 915 hPa (27.02 inHg).

[4] Land interaction did not affect Hagibis much, but as the system continued to move westward, it underwent an eyewall replacement cycle, which is usual for all tropical cyclones of a similar intensity.

[4] At the time, the system was 1,030 km (640 mi) northeast of Pohnpei, quickly developing cumulonimbus clouds around its center and establishing conducive outflow as it tracked west around the periphery of an area of high pressure.

[14] On October 6, the storm made a slight turn towards the west-southwest and began an accelerated period of intensification within an environment with low wind shear and atop warm waters,[15][4] reaching severe tropical storm intensity at 12:00 UTC and typhoon strength six hours later as it developed a small eye.

[4][16] Typhoon Hagibis entered a period of explosive intensification on October 7,[17] with its central pressure falling 55 hPa (mbar; 1.62 inHg) in 12 hours according to the JMA.

During this phase, Hagibis maintained a pinhole eye 9 km (5.6 mi) across, encircled by a highly compact and sharply-defined eyewall.

[21] After passing the Mariana Islands, Hagibis began an eyewall replacement cycle, which caused the rapid intensification phase to end.

Mild strengthening was forecast shortly after Hagibis downgraded to a Category 3 typhoon, but this prediction failed to materialize, as the storm neared land and its outer rainbands began to erode.

After gradual weakening, Hagibis made landfall on Shizuoka as a Category 2-equivalent typhoon, with 1-minute sustained winds of 155 km/h (96 mph), at around 08:30 UTC on October 12.

[24] Forecasts across eastern, western, and northern Japan called for strong winds and torrential rain that would likely cause flooding and mudslides.

Acting Governor Arnold Palacios began giving "all-clear" signals based on information from the National Weather Service and CNMI Emergency Operations Center.

[7] At around 18:22 JST (09:22 UTC) on October 12, a magnitude 5.7 earthquake occurred off the coast of Chiba Prefecture, worsening the dangerous conditions already created by Hagibis.