The 1939 season

Unnamed tropical depression (1939)

Unnamed tropical depression peaked at unknown kt in the Western Pacific between May 1, 1939 and May 8, 1939, and made landfall.

Track and intensity

The whole track of Unnamed tropical depression, colored by strength, with the other storms of the 1939 season in the same basin behind it, and its wind and pressure hour by hour. Every fix is in the track table below.

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The storm

Basin
Western Pacific
Dates
May 1, 1939 to May 8, 1939
Peak strength
Tropical Depression
Landfall
Yes
Accumulated cyclone energy
0.0
Identifier
1939121N08133

Deaths and damage

No source this site reads publishes a machine-readable casualty or damage figure for a storm of this era. The National Hurricane Center’s season tables begin in 1995 and carry deaths and damage only from 2005 in the Atlantic and 2020 in both basins; the US Storm Events record begins in 1996.

Track

Time (UTC)PositionWindPressureStatus
May 1, 12:008.2N 132.6ENot reported
May 1, 18:008.5N 131.8ENot reported
May 2, 00:008.8N 131.2ENot reported
May 2, 06:008.9N 130.8ENot reported
May 2, 12:009.0N 130.5ENot reported
May 2, 18:009.2N 130.2ENot reported
May 3, 00:009.4N 129.9ENot reported
May 3, 06:009.5N 129.5ENot reported
May 3, 12:009.6N 129.0ENot reported
May 3, 18:009.7N 128.5ENot reported
May 4, 00:009.8N 127.9ENot reported
May 4, 06:009.9N 127.2ENot reported
May 4, 12:0010.3N 125.8ETropical storm
May 4, 18:0011.2N 123.7ETropical storm
May 5, 00:0011.9N 122.4ETropical storm
May 5, 06:0012.2N 122.4ETropical storm
May 5, 12:0012.5N 122.6ETropical storm
May 5, 18:0012.7N 122.7ETropical storm
May 6, 00:0013.3N 122.7ETropical storm
May 6, 06:0014.3N 122.9ETropical storm
May 6, 12:0015.3N 122.9ETropical storm
May 6, 18:0016.3N 122.7ETropical storm
May 7, 00:0017.3N 122.4ETropical storm
May 7, 06:0018.3N 122.2ETropical storm
May 7, 12:0019.3N 122.1ETropical storm
May 7, 18:0020.3N 122.3ETropical storm
May 8, 00:0021.3N 123.0ETropical storm
May 8, 06:0022.4N 124.3ETropical storm
May 8, 12:0023.6N 125.8ETropical storm
May 8, 18:0024.8N 127.4ETropical storm

Other Western Pacific storms of 1939

What this means

A best track is the record a warning agency settles on after the storm, not what it said at the time: position, maximum sustained wind and central pressure every six hours, revised against every observation that came in later. Category is the Saffir-Simpson scale, which runs from Category 1 at 64 kt to Category 5 at 137 kt and reads wind only, so it says nothing about surge or rain. Accumulated cyclone energy adds up the square of the wind through the storm's life, so it counts strength and duration together.

Sources

Storm history from NOAA NCEI’s International Best Track Archive for Climate Stewardship (IBTrACS), which merges the official best track of every warning agency. Live storms, cones, watches and warnings from the National Hurricane Center and the Central Pacific Hurricane Center. Archived radar from NOAA’s Level II archive.