The 1951 season

Typhoon Wanda (1951)

Typhoon Wanda reached Category 2 in the Western Pacific between November 16, 1951 and November 26, 1951, with a lowest pressure of 985 mb, and made landfall.

Radar

Reflectivity now over Typhoon Wanda. 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
November 16, 1951 to November 26, 1951
Peak strength
Category 2, 90 kt (104 mph)
Lowest pressure
985 mb (29.09 inHg)
Landfall
Yes
Accumulated cyclone energy
22.3
Identifier
WP151951

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
Nov 16, 12:008.9N 143.0E1006 mbTropical storm
Nov 16, 18:009.0N 141.5E1004 mbTropical storm
Nov 17, 00:009.0N 140.0E1002 mbTropical storm
Nov 17, 06:009.0N 138.5E1000 mbTropical storm
Nov 17, 12:009.1N 137.0E1000 mbTropical storm
Nov 17, 18:009.2N 135.9E1000 mbTropical storm
Nov 18, 00:009.2N 133.1E75 kt996 mbTropical storm
Nov 18, 06:009.6N 132.6E75 kt990 mbTropical storm
Nov 18, 12:009.9N 132.0E75 kt990 mbTropical storm
Nov 18, 18:0010.3N 131.5E75 kt990 mbTropical storm
Nov 19, 00:0010.6N 130.9E75 kt990 mbTropical storm
Nov 19, 06:0010.7N 130.0E80 kt990 mbTropical storm
Nov 19, 12:0010.7N 129.2E85 kt990 mbTropical storm
Nov 19, 18:0010.7N 128.3E85 kt985 mbTropical storm
Nov 20, 00:0010.7N 127.5E90 kt985 mbTropical storm
Nov 20, 06:0010.9N 126.5E90 kt985 mbTropical storm
Nov 20, 12:0011.4N 125.4E90 kt985 mbTropical storm
Nov 20, 18:0012.1N 124.2E85 kt985 mbTropical storm
Nov 21, 00:0012.5N 123.2E85 kt990 mbTropical storm
Nov 21, 06:0012.7N 122.2E85 kt990 mbTropical storm
Nov 21, 12:0012.7N 121.2E85 kt990 mbTropical storm
Nov 21, 18:0012.8N 120.2E80 kt990 mbTropical storm
Nov 22, 00:0013.0N 119.4E80 kt990 mbTropical storm
Nov 22, 06:0013.3N 118.7E80 kt990 mbTropical storm
Nov 22, 12:0013.7N 117.8E80 kt990 mbTropical storm
Nov 22, 18:0014.3N 117.0E80 kt990 mbTropical storm
Nov 23, 00:0014.9N 116.2E80 kt990 mbTropical storm
Nov 23, 06:0015.1N 115.9E80 kt990 mbTropical storm
Nov 23, 12:0015.1N 115.2E85 kt990 mbTropical storm
Nov 23, 18:0015.0N 114.5E85 kt990 mbTropical storm
Nov 24, 00:0014.8N 113.9E90 kt992 mbTropical storm
Nov 24, 06:0014.5N 113.2E90 kt992 mbTropical storm
Nov 24, 12:0014.1N 112.2E90 kt992 mbTropical storm
Nov 24, 18:0013.7N 111.3E90 kt992 mbTropical storm
Nov 25, 00:0013.3N 110.4E90 kt995 mbTropical storm
Nov 25, 06:0013.1N 110.0E90 kt995 mbTropical storm
Nov 25, 12:0012.5N 109.0E90 kt1000 mbTropical storm
Nov 25, 18:0012.8N 108.0E60 kt1000 mbTropical storm
Nov 26, 00:0012.7N 107.0E40 kt1005 mbMixed
Nov 26, 06:0012.5N 106.0E30 ktTropical storm
Nov 26, 12:0012.0N 105.0E20 ktTropical storm

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.