Typhoon Carmen (1949)

Typhoon Carmen reached Category 2 in the Western Pacific between January 13, 1949 and January 25, 1949, and made landfall.

Track and intensity

The whole track of Typhoon Carmen, colored by strength, with the other storms of the 1949 season in the same basin behind it, and its wind and pressure hour by hour. Every fix is in the track table below.

Open the live map with storms, cones and warnings

The storm

Basin: Western Pacific
Dates: January 13, 1949 to January 25, 1949
Peak strength: Category 2, 85 kt (98 mph)
Landfall: Yes
Accumulated cyclone energy: 11.2
Identifier: WP011949

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)	Position	Wind	Status
Jan 13, 00:00	5.7N 139.9E		Disturbance
Jan 13, 06:00	6.5N 140.5E	25 kt	Mixed
Jan 13, 12:00	6.6N 139.6E	35 kt	Mixed
Jan 13, 18:00	6.8N 138.6E	40 kt	Mixed
Jan 14, 00:00	7.2N 137.7E	45 kt	Mixed
Jan 14, 06:00	8.0N 136.9E	50 kt	Mixed
Jan 14, 12:00	8.7N 136.2E	60 kt	Mixed
Jan 14, 18:00	9.3N 135.6E	60 kt	Mixed
Jan 15, 00:00	10.0N 135.0E	60 kt	Tropical storm
Jan 15, 06:00	10.8N 134.5E	65 kt	Tropical storm
Jan 15, 12:00	11.5N 134.3E	65 kt	Tropical storm
Jan 15, 18:00	12.3N 134.4E	65 kt	Tropical storm
Jan 16, 00:00	12.8N 134.7E	65 kt	Tropical storm
Jan 16, 06:00	13.2N 135.2E	65 kt	Tropical storm
Jan 16, 12:00	13.3N 135.4E	65 kt	Tropical storm
Jan 16, 18:00	13.4N 135.8E	65 kt	Tropical storm
Jan 17, 00:00	13.3N 136.1E	65 kt	Tropical storm
Jan 17, 06:00	12.8N 136.2E	65 kt	Tropical storm
Jan 17, 12:00	12.7N 135.9E	65 kt	Tropical storm
Jan 17, 18:00	12.6N 135.6E	65 kt	Tropical storm
Jan 18, 00:00	12.5N 135.3E	75 kt	Tropical storm
Jan 18, 06:00	12.4N 134.6E	85 kt	Tropical storm
Jan 18, 12:00	12.1N 133.8E	85 kt	Tropical storm
Jan 18, 18:00	11.9N 132.9E	85 kt	Tropical storm
Jan 19, 00:00	11.6N 131.9E	75 kt	Tropical storm
Jan 19, 06:00	11.3N 131.0E	70 kt	Tropical storm
Jan 19, 12:00	10.7N 130.1E	60 kt	Tropical storm
Jan 19, 18:00	10.1N 129.0E	50 kt	Tropical storm
Jan 20, 00:00	9.4N 128.2E	45 kt	Tropical storm
Jan 20, 06:00	10.0N 127.4E	40 kt	Tropical storm
Jan 20, 12:00	11.0N 126.0E	30 kt	Mixed
Jan 20, 18:00	10.0N 124.8E	25 kt	Mixed
Jan 21, 00:00	11.3N 124.9E		Disturbance
Jan 21, 06:00	11.4N 124.3E		Disturbance
Jan 21, 12:00	11.6N 123.8E		Disturbance
Jan 21, 18:00	11.7N 123.3E		Disturbance
Jan 22, 00:00	11.9N 122.7E		Disturbance
Jan 22, 06:00	12.0N 122.2E		Disturbance
Jan 22, 12:00	12.5N 121.2E		Disturbance
Jan 22, 18:00	13.3N 120.0E		Disturbance
Jan 23, 00:00	13.8N 119.4E		Disturbance
Jan 23, 06:00	14.3N 119.1E		Disturbance
Jan 23, 12:00	14.7N 118.7E		Disturbance
Jan 23, 18:00	15.2N 118.4E		Disturbance
Jan 24, 00:00	15.7N 118.2E		Disturbance
Jan 24, 06:00	16.1N 117.9E		Disturbance
Jan 24, 12:00	16.6N 117.7E		Disturbance
Jan 24, 18:00	17.1N 117.4E		Disturbance
Jan 25, 00:00	17.5N 117.3E		Disturbance

Other Western Pacific storms of 1949

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.