The 1947 season

Typhoon Cathy (1947)

Typhoon Cathy reached Category 3 in the Western Pacific between October 28, 1947 and November 4, 1947, and made landfall.

Track and intensity

The whole track of Typhoon Cathy, colored by strength, with the other storms of the 1947 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
October 28, 1947 to November 4, 1947
Peak strength
Category 3, 100 kt (115 mph)
Landfall
Yes
Accumulated cyclone energy
11.8
Identifier
WP201947

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
Oct 28, 12:0011.0N 133.5ENot reported
Oct 28, 18:0011.0N 131.7ENot reported
Oct 29, 00:0011.0N 130.2ETropical storm
Oct 29, 06:0011.4N 128.7E60 ktTropical storm
Oct 29, 12:0011.7N 127.7E70 ktTropical storm
Oct 29, 18:0011.8N 126.7E70 ktTropical storm
Oct 30, 00:0011.7N 125.8E65 ktTropical storm
Oct 30, 06:0011.6N 125.1E65 ktTropical storm
Oct 30, 12:0011.7N 124.5E65 ktTropical storm
Oct 30, 18:0012.2N 123.7E65 ktTropical storm
Oct 31, 00:0013.3N 122.2E65 ktTropical storm
Oct 31, 06:0013.8N 121.5E65 ktTropical storm
Oct 31, 12:0014.4N 120.7E50 ktTropical storm
Oct 31, 18:0014.9N 119.6E50 ktTropical storm
Nov 1, 00:0015.1N 118.6E55 ktTropical storm
Nov 1, 06:0015.2N 117.3E60 ktTropical storm
Nov 1, 12:0015.2N 116.0E70 ktTropical storm
Nov 1, 18:0015.3N 114.7E80 ktTropical storm
Nov 2, 00:0015.5N 113.8E90 ktTropical storm
Nov 2, 06:0015.7N 113.3E100 ktTropical storm
Nov 2, 12:0015.9N 112.4E90 ktTropical storm
Nov 2, 18:0016.0N 111.3E80 ktTropical storm
Nov 3, 00:0016.2N 110.7E80 ktTropical storm
Nov 3, 06:0016.3N 110.3E75 ktTropical storm
Nov 3, 12:0016.6N 109.4E75 ktTropical storm
Nov 3, 18:0016.6N 108.2E65 ktTropical storm
Nov 4, 00:0016.0N 107.0E45 ktTropical storm
Nov 4, 06:0016.0N 106.5E30 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.