The 1951 season

Typhoon Ruth (1951)

Typhoon Ruth reached Category 4 in the Western Pacific between October 7, 1951 and October 20, 1951, with a lowest pressure of 924 mb, and made landfall.

Radar

Reflectivity now over Typhoon Ruth. 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
October 7, 1951 to October 20, 1951
Peak strength
Category 4, 120 kt (138 mph)
Lowest pressure
924 mb (27.29 inHg)
Landfall
Yes
Accumulated cyclone energy
25.1
Fastest the center moved
50 kt (58 mph)
Identifier
WP111951

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
Oct 7, 12:0010.8N 146.9EDisturbance
Oct 7, 18:0011.8N 145.2ETropical storm
Oct 8, 00:0012.5N 143.9E1002 mbTropical storm
Oct 8, 06:0013.0N 143.0E1000 mbTropical storm
Oct 8, 12:0013.4N 142.2E998 mbTropical storm
Oct 8, 18:0013.7N 141.0E996 mbTropical storm
Oct 9, 00:0014.2N 139.6E45 kt993 mbTropical storm
Oct 9, 06:0015.0N 138.7E60 kt990 mbTropical storm
Oct 9, 12:0015.6N 137.8E75 kt988 mbTropical storm
Oct 9, 18:0016.0N 136.7E80 kt983 mbTropical storm
Oct 10, 00:0016.3N 135.6E85 kt978 mbTropical storm
Oct 10, 06:0016.4N 134.4E100 kt971 mbTropical storm
Oct 10, 12:0016.9N 133.3E100 kt965 mbTropical storm
Oct 10, 18:0017.7N 132.5E100 kt959 mbTropical storm
Oct 11, 00:0018.3N 131.6E105 kt953 mbTropical storm
Oct 11, 06:0018.8N 130.5E105 kt948 mbTropical storm
Oct 11, 12:0019.0N 129.4E110 kt940 mbTropical storm
Oct 11, 18:0019.4N 128.7E110 kt933 mbTropical storm
Oct 12, 00:0019.6N 127.9E115 kt928 mbTropical storm
Oct 12, 06:0020.0N 127.2E120 kt925 mbTropical storm
Oct 12, 12:0020.7N 126.4E115 kt924 mbTropical storm
Oct 12, 18:0021.5N 126.0E110 kt924 mbTropical storm
Oct 13, 00:0022.6N 126.0E110 kt924 mbTropical storm
Oct 13, 06:0023.6N 126.1E105 kt925 mbTropical storm
Oct 13, 12:0024.5N 126.3E100 kt926 mbTropical storm
Oct 13, 18:0026.1N 126.8E90 kt927 mbTropical storm
Oct 14, 00:0027.8N 127.5E80 kt929 mbTropical storm
Oct 14, 06:0029.7N 128.8E75 kt927 mbTropical storm
Oct 14, 12:0032.5N 131.5E70 kt952 mbTropical storm
Oct 14, 18:0034.2N 134.0E60 kt969 mbTropical storm
Oct 15, 00:0036.5N 137.5E50 kt972 mbTropical storm
Oct 15, 06:0037.5N 141.2E45 kt978 mbTropical storm
Oct 15, 12:0039.0N 145.0E40 kt978 mbMixed
Oct 15, 18:0040.5N 150.5E35 kt980 mbMixed
Oct 16, 00:0042.0N 156.5E50 kt974 mbMixed
Oct 16, 06:0044.0N 163.0E65 kt970 mbMixed
Oct 16, 12:0046.0N 169.0E65 kt964 mbMixed
Oct 16, 18:0046.3N 172.0E60 kt954 mbMixed
Oct 17, 00:0046.5N 174.0E60 kt950 mbMixed
Oct 17, 06:0048.0N 176.5E55 kt950 mbMixed
Oct 17, 12:0049.0N 177.5E50 kt950 mbMixed
Oct 17, 18:0049.5N 178.0E45 kt950 mbMixed
Oct 18, 00:0050.0N 177.8E45 kt950 mbMixed
Oct 18, 06:0051.3N 177.9E950 mbExtratropical
Oct 18, 12:0051.7N 176.5E950 mbExtratropical
Oct 18, 18:0052.5N 174.5E960 mbExtratropical
Oct 19, 00:0053.0N 171.6E966 mbExtratropical
Oct 19, 06:0052.7N 170.5E966 mbExtratropical
Oct 19, 12:0052.5N 169.2E972 mbExtratropical
Oct 19, 18:0052.2N 168.2E974 mbExtratropical
Oct 20, 00:0052.0N 167.0E978 mbExtratropical
Oct 20, 06:0052.0N 166.0E976 mbExtratropical

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.