The 1947 season

Typhoon Bernida (1947)

Typhoon Bernida reached Category 1 in the Western Pacific between May 13, 1947 and May 17, 1947.

Radar

Reflectivity now over Typhoon Bernida. Open it to see storms, cones and warnings on the map.

Open the live radar with storms, cones and warnings

Radar mosaic and map layers from NOAA MRMS. Boundaries from the Iowa Environmental Mesonet.

The storm

Basin
Western Pacific
Dates
May 13, 1947 to May 17, 1947
Peak strength
Category 1, 80 kt (92 mph)
Landfall
No; closest approach 580 km (360 mi)
Accumulated cyclone energy
5.2
Identifier
WP021947

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 13, 00:0015.8N 137.7E25 ktTropical storm
May 13, 06:0016.5N 138.5E30 ktTropical storm
May 13, 12:0017.2N 139.2E45 ktTropical storm
May 13, 18:0018.0N 139.9E50 ktTropical storm
May 14, 00:0018.7N 140.4E60 ktTropical storm
May 14, 06:0019.8N 140.9E60 ktTropical storm
May 14, 12:0021.2N 141.3E65 ktTropical storm
May 14, 18:0022.8N 141.5E75 ktTropical storm
May 15, 00:0024.6N 141.5E80 ktTropical storm
May 15, 06:0026.3N 141.4E80 ktTropical storm
May 15, 12:0028.0N 141.4E70 ktTropical storm
May 15, 18:0029.6N 142.2E70 ktTropical storm
May 16, 00:0030.4N 143.2E60 ktTropical storm
May 16, 06:0031.5N 145.2E45 ktTropical storm
May 16, 12:0032.2N 147.0E35 ktTropical storm
May 16, 18:0033.5N 148.0E35 ktTropical storm
May 17, 00:0034.5N 150.0E30 ktTropical storm

Other Western Pacific storms of 1947

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.