The 1948 season

Typhoon Libby (1948)

Typhoon Libby reached Category 4 in the Western Pacific between September 29, 1948 and October 7, 1948.

Track and intensity

The whole track of Typhoon Libby, 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
September 29, 1948 to October 7, 1948
Peak strength
Category 4, 125 kt (144 mph)
Landfall
No; closest approach 38 km (24 mi)
Accumulated cyclone energy
22.9
Identifier
WP171948

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
Sep 29, 06:0024.4N 144.0E55 ktTropical storm
Sep 29, 12:0024.7N 143.1E80 ktTropical storm
Sep 29, 18:0025.0N 142.0E100 ktTropical storm
Sep 30, 00:0025.1N 140.8E120 ktTropical storm
Sep 30, 06:0025.1N 139.8E125 ktTropical storm
Sep 30, 12:0025.1N 138.6E120 ktTropical storm
Sep 30, 18:0025.1N 137.6E110 ktTropical storm
Oct 1, 00:0025.1N 136.5E100 ktTropical storm
Oct 1, 06:0025.1N 135.4E90 ktTropical storm
Oct 1, 12:0025.1N 134.3E90 ktTropical storm
Oct 1, 18:0025.1N 133.6E90 ktTropical storm
Oct 2, 00:0025.0N 132.9E80 ktTropical storm
Oct 2, 06:0025.0N 132.0E75 ktTropical storm
Oct 2, 12:0025.0N 131.1E75 ktTropical storm
Oct 2, 18:0025.0N 130.1E75 ktTropical storm
Oct 3, 00:0025.2N 129.2E75 ktTropical storm
Oct 3, 06:0025.4N 128.6E75 ktTropical storm
Oct 3, 12:0025.7N 128.2E75 ktTropical storm
Oct 3, 18:0025.9N 127.9E75 ktTropical storm
Oct 4, 00:0026.3N 127.7E80 ktTropical storm
Oct 4, 06:0026.7N 127.9E90 ktTropical storm
Oct 4, 12:0027.2N 128.3E95 ktTropical storm
Oct 4, 18:0027.9N 128.9E85 ktTropical storm
Oct 5, 00:0028.5N 129.5E80 ktTropical storm
Oct 5, 06:0029.2N 130.2E75 ktTropical storm
Oct 5, 12:0030.3N 131.4E75 ktTropical storm
Oct 5, 18:0031.2N 133.0E70 ktTropical storm
Oct 6, 00:0032.0N 134.6E70 ktTropical storm
Oct 6, 06:0032.8N 136.1E70 ktTropical storm
Oct 6, 12:0033.8N 138.0E65 ktTropical storm
Oct 6, 18:0034.6N 140.0E60 ktTropical storm
Oct 7, 00:0035.5N 142.7E50 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.