The 1948 season

Typhoon Agnes (1948)

Typhoon Agnes reached Category 2 in the Western Pacific between November 13, 1948 and November 20, 1948, and made landfall.

Track and intensity

The whole track of Typhoon Agnes, colored by strength, with the other storms of the 1948 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
November 13, 1948 to November 20, 1948
Peak strength
Category 2, 95 kt (109 mph)
Landfall
Yes
Accumulated cyclone energy
16.6
Fastest the center moved
51 kt (59 mph)
Identifier
WP231948

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
Nov 13, 00:0011.0N 152.0E50 ktTropical storm
Nov 13, 06:0011.6N 150.8E50 ktTropical storm
Nov 13, 12:0012.3N 149.7E55 ktTropical storm
Nov 13, 18:0012.9N 148.4E55 ktTropical storm
Nov 14, 00:0013.5N 147.2E60 ktTropical storm
Nov 14, 06:0014.1N 145.5E65 ktTropical storm
Nov 14, 12:0014.5N 144.0E65 ktTropical storm
Nov 14, 18:0015.0N 142.3E65 ktTropical storm
Nov 15, 00:0015.4N 140.8E75 ktTropical storm
Nov 15, 06:0015.9N 139.4E90 ktTropical storm
Nov 15, 12:0016.6N 138.0E90 ktTropical storm
Nov 15, 18:0017.5N 136.5E90 ktTropical storm
Nov 16, 00:0018.6N 135.2E90 ktTropical storm
Nov 16, 06:0019.7N 134.1E90 ktTropical storm
Nov 16, 12:0020.0N 133.6E90 ktTropical storm
Nov 16, 18:0020.4N 133.0E90 ktTropical storm
Nov 17, 00:0021.1N 132.6E95 ktTropical storm
Nov 17, 06:0022.1N 131.9E95 ktTropical storm
Nov 17, 12:0023.1N 131.2E95 ktTropical storm
Nov 17, 18:0024.4N 130.7E95 ktTropical storm
Nov 18, 00:0025.9N 130.5E95 ktTropical storm
Nov 18, 06:0027.5N 131.0E85 ktTropical storm
Nov 18, 12:0029.3N 132.0E70 ktTropical storm
Nov 18, 18:0030.8N 133.5E70 ktTropical storm
Nov 19, 00:0032.1N 135.0E65 ktTropical storm
Nov 19, 06:0034.1N 138.1E55 ktTropical storm
Nov 19, 12:0035.5N 141.5E50 ktTropical storm
Nov 19, 18:0035.2N 147.5E40 ktTropical storm
Nov 20, 00:0035.0N 152.0E35 ktTropical storm
Nov 20, 06:0035.2N 157.0E35 ktTropical storm
Nov 20, 12:0034.9N 163.0E30 ktTropical storm

Other Western Pacific storms of 1948

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.