The 1948 season

Typhoon Pearl (1948)

Typhoon Pearl reached Category 2 in the Western Pacific between July 1, 1948 and July 8, 1948, and made landfall.

Track and intensity

The whole track of Typhoon Pearl, 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
July 1, 1948 to July 8, 1948
Peak strength
Category 2, 90 kt (104 mph)
Landfall
Yes
Accumulated cyclone energy
14.0
Identifier
WP061948

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
Jul 1, 00:0011.3N 145.1E30 ktTropical storm
Jul 1, 06:0011.5N 144.0E35 ktTropical storm
Jul 1, 12:0011.5N 142.4E35 ktTropical storm
Jul 1, 18:0011.8N 140.8E35 ktTropical storm
Jul 2, 00:0012.2N 139.2E55 ktTropical storm
Jul 2, 06:0012.5N 138.0E65 ktTropical storm
Jul 2, 12:0012.8N 136.9E70 ktTropical storm
Jul 2, 18:0013.2N 135.7E70 ktTropical storm
Jul 3, 00:0013.6N 134.5E70 ktTropical storm
Jul 3, 06:0014.0N 133.2E70 ktTropical storm
Jul 3, 12:0014.9N 131.2E70 ktTropical storm
Jul 3, 18:0016.1N 129.6E80 ktTropical storm
Jul 4, 00:0017.3N 128.2E90 ktTropical storm
Jul 4, 06:0018.3N 127.3E90 ktTropical storm
Jul 4, 12:0019.5N 126.1E90 ktTropical storm
Jul 4, 18:0020.4N 125.1E90 ktTropical storm
Jul 5, 00:0021.7N 124.1E90 ktTropical storm
Jul 5, 06:0022.8N 123.2E85 ktTropical storm
Jul 5, 12:0023.7N 122.7E85 ktTropical storm
Jul 5, 18:0024.8N 122.0E85 ktTropical storm
Jul 6, 00:0026.9N 121.3E85 ktTropical storm
Jul 6, 06:0029.4N 121.4E85 ktTropical storm
Jul 6, 12:0031.8N 122.2E75 ktTropical storm
Jul 6, 18:0033.3N 123.2E70 ktTropical storm
Jul 7, 00:0035.1N 124.1E60 ktTropical storm
Jul 7, 06:0036.7N 125.3E50 ktTropical storm
Jul 7, 12:0038.0N 126.5E50 ktTropical storm
Jul 7, 18:0040.0N 126.8E40 ktTropical storm
Jul 8, 00:0042.0N 127.2E35 ktTropical storm
Jul 8, 06:0043.0N 128.0E30 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.