The 1949 season

Tropical Storm Irma (1949)

Tropical Storm Irma peaked at 50 kt in the Western Pacific between July 24, 1949 and July 30, 1949, and made landfall.

Track and intensity

The whole track of Tropical Storm Irma, 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.

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The storm

Basin
Western Pacific
Dates
July 24, 1949 to July 30, 1949
Peak strength
Tropical Storm, 50 kt (58 mph)
Landfall
Yes
Accumulated cyclone energy
3.3
Identifier
WP071949

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 24, 18:0018.0N 113.5EDisturbance
Jul 25, 00:0018.2N 113.9EDisturbance
Jul 25, 06:0018.5N 114.2EDisturbance
Jul 25, 12:0018.8N 114.5ETropical storm
Jul 25, 18:0019.0N 114.9ETropical storm
Jul 26, 00:0019.3N 115.3ETropical storm
Jul 26, 06:0019.0N 115.0E35 ktTropical storm
Jul 26, 12:0019.2N 116.0E35 ktTropical storm
Jul 26, 18:0019.5N 116.8E35 ktTropical storm
Jul 27, 00:0019.8N 117.8E35 ktTropical storm
Jul 27, 06:0020.3N 118.5E35 ktTropical storm
Jul 27, 12:0020.7N 119.3E35 ktTropical storm
Jul 27, 18:0021.2N 120.0E35 ktTropical storm
Jul 28, 00:0021.7N 120.8E40 ktTropical storm
Jul 28, 06:0022.3N 121.3E50 ktTropical storm
Jul 28, 12:0023.3N 122.1E50 ktTropical storm
Jul 28, 18:0024.5N 122.8E50 ktTropical storm
Jul 29, 00:0026.2N 123.4E50 ktTropical storm
Jul 29, 06:0027.9N 123.5E50 ktTropical storm
Jul 29, 12:0029.3N 123.4E50 ktTropical storm
Jul 29, 18:0030.9N 123.3E50 ktTropical storm
Jul 30, 00:0032.3N 123.0E45 ktTropical storm
Jul 30, 06:0033.0N 123.5E45 ktMixed
Jul 30, 12:0033.5N 123.8E40 ktTropical storm
Jul 30, 18:0034.0N 124.0E30 ktTropical storm

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.