The 1948 season

Typhoon Lana (1948)

Typhoon Lana reached Category 1 in the Western Pacific between May 16, 1948 and May 20, 1948.

Track and intensity

The whole track of Typhoon Lana, 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
May 16, 1948 to May 20, 1948
Peak strength
Category 1, 80 kt (92 mph)
Landfall
No; closest approach 1050 km (652 mi)
Accumulated cyclone energy
8.1
Identifier
WP021948

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 16, 12:0010.0N 138.0E35 ktTropical storm
May 16, 18:0010.7N 138.8E55 ktTropical storm
May 17, 00:0011.5N 139.6E70 ktTropical storm
May 17, 06:0012.1N 140.2E80 ktTropical storm
May 17, 12:0012.7N 140.6E80 ktTropical storm
May 17, 18:0013.3N 141.0E80 ktTropical storm
May 18, 00:0014.2N 141.4E75 ktTropical storm
May 18, 06:0015.2N 141.9E65 ktTropical storm
May 18, 12:0016.4N 142.1E65 ktTropical storm
May 18, 18:0018.0N 142.3E65 ktTropical storm
May 19, 00:0019.3N 142.7E70 ktTropical storm
May 19, 06:0020.5N 142.8E70 ktTropical storm
May 19, 12:0021.7N 142.9E75 ktTropical storm
May 19, 18:0022.6N 143.1E70 ktTropical storm
May 20, 00:0023.6N 143.4E70 ktTropical storm
May 20, 06:0024.8N 144.2E60 ktTropical storm
May 20, 12:0026.0N 145.3E55 ktTropical storm
May 20, 18:0027.1N 146.1E50 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.