The 1951 season

Typhoon Joan (1951)

Typhoon Joan reached Category 1 in the Western Pacific between May 3, 1951 and May 17, 1951, with a lowest pressure of 980 mb.

Radar

Reflectivity now over Typhoon Joan. Open it to see storms, cones and warnings on the map.

Open the live radar with storms, cones and warnings

Radar mosaic and map layers from NOAA MRMS. Boundaries from the Iowa Environmental Mesonet.

The storm

Basin
Western Pacific
Dates
May 3, 1951 to May 17, 1951
Peak strength
Category 1, 75 kt (86 mph)
Lowest pressure
980 mb (28.94 inHg)
Landfall
No; closest approach 1347 km (837 mi)
Accumulated cyclone energy
6.8
Identifier
WP041951

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 3, 12:004.0N 166.5E30 ktTropical storm
May 3, 18:004.1N 165.8E35 ktTropical storm
May 4, 00:004.2N 165.1E35 ktTropical storm
May 4, 06:004.4N 164.5E40 ktTropical storm
May 4, 12:004.5N 164.0E35 ktTropical storm
May 4, 18:004.7N 163.0E35 ktTropical storm
May 5, 00:005.0N 161.9E35 ktTropical storm
May 5, 06:005.5N 160.9E35 ktTropical storm
May 5, 12:006.0N 159.7E30 ktTropical storm
May 5, 18:006.7N 159.0E30 ktTropical storm
May 6, 00:007.4N 158.1E30 kt1005 mbMixed
May 6, 06:008.2N 157.8E25 kt1003 mbTropical storm
May 6, 12:009.0N 157.5E25 kt1003 mbTropical storm
May 6, 18:0010.0N 157.5E30 kt1003 mbTropical storm
May 7, 00:0011.0N 158.0E30 kt1000 mbTropical storm
May 7, 06:0011.8N 158.5E40 kt1000 mbTropical storm
May 7, 12:0012.2N 159.0E55 kt998 mbTropical storm
May 7, 18:0012.8N 159.5E60 kt995 mbTropical storm
May 8, 00:0013.0N 160.0E65 kt990 mbTropical storm
May 8, 06:0013.5N 160.4E65 kt980 mbTropical storm
May 8, 12:0014.0N 160.6E70 kt980 mbTropical storm
May 8, 18:0014.3N 161.1E75 kt985 mbTropical storm
May 9, 00:0014.2N 161.2E70 kt985 mbTropical storm
May 9, 06:0013.7N 161.1E65 kt985 mbTropical storm
May 9, 12:0013.5N 160.8E60 kt985 mbTropical storm
May 9, 18:0013.4N 159.7E55 kt988 mbTropical storm
May 10, 00:0013.6N 158.6E50 kt990 mbTropical storm
May 10, 06:0014.0N 157.8E45 kt993 mbTropical storm
May 10, 12:0014.8N 156.8E40 kt995 mbTropical storm
May 10, 18:0015.5N 156.0E35 kt1000 mbTropical storm
May 11, 00:0016.3N 155.3E40 kt1005 mbTropical storm
May 11, 06:0016.9N 155.0E40 kt1002 mbTropical storm
May 11, 12:0019.0N 154.0E40 kt1004 mbTropical storm
May 11, 18:0020.4N 154.1E40 kt1006 mbMixed
May 12, 00:0021.7N 154.6E35 kt1008 mbMixed
May 12, 06:0023.0N 155.0E35 kt1008 mbMixed
May 12, 12:0024.0N 155.5E30 kt1008 mbMixed
May 12, 18:0022.6N 152.3E1008 mbMixed
May 13, 00:0023.4N 152.4E1008 mbMixed
May 13, 06:0024.2N 153.0E1009 mbMixed
May 13, 12:0025.0N 153.8E1010 mbMixed
May 13, 18:0025.9N 155.0E1010 mbMixed
May 14, 00:0027.1N 156.0E1008 mbMixed
May 14, 06:0028.1N 157.1E1008 mbMixed
May 14, 12:0029.0N 158.1E1008 mbMixed
May 14, 18:0031.0N 160.0E1004 mbExtratropical
May 15, 00:0033.9N 162.3E1006 mbExtratropical
May 15, 06:0035.8N 164.7E1008 mbExtratropical
May 15, 12:0037.0N 167.0E1008 mbExtratropical
May 15, 18:0038.0N 170.1E1006 mbExtratropical
May 16, 00:0038.9N 172.5E1004 mbExtratropical
May 16, 06:0039.8N 174.8E1004 mbExtratropical
May 16, 12:0040.5N 176.9E1004 mbExtratropical
May 16, 18:0041.0N 178.9E990 mbExtratropical
May 17, 00:0041.6N 180.0EExtratropical

Other Western Pacific storms of 1951

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.