The 1953 season

Typhoon Susan (1953)

Typhoon Susan reached Category 3 in the Western Pacific between September 12, 1953 and September 20, 1953, with a lowest pressure of 970 mb, and made landfall.

Track and intensity

The whole track of Typhoon Susan, colored by strength, with the other storms of the 1953 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
September 12, 1953 to September 20, 1953
Peak strength
Category 3, 110 kt (127 mph)
Lowest pressure
970 mb (28.64 inHg)
Landfall
Yes
Accumulated cyclone energy
14.3
Identifier
WP141953

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
Sep 12, 12:0017.2N 127.8EDisturbance
Sep 12, 18:0017.7N 127.1EDisturbance
Sep 13, 00:0018.2N 126.2EDisturbance
Sep 13, 06:0018.3N 125.5EDisturbance
Sep 13, 12:0018.4N 124.7EDisturbance
Sep 13, 18:0018.3N 124.0E1006 mbMixed
Sep 14, 00:0018.2N 123.6E1008 mbMixed
Sep 14, 06:0018.9N 122.7E1006 mbMixed
Sep 14, 12:0019.3N 121.7E1008 mbMixed
Sep 14, 18:0019.7N 120.8E1006 mbMixed
Sep 15, 00:0020.0N 120.0E1004 mbTropical storm
Sep 15, 06:0019.7N 119.5E25 kt1000 mbTropical storm
Sep 15, 12:0019.7N 119.0E30 kt1000 mbTropical storm
Sep 15, 18:0020.0N 118.4E30 kt1000 mbTropical storm
Sep 16, 00:0020.0N 117.9E80 kt970 mbTropical storm
Sep 16, 06:0020.1N 117.5E90 kt970 mbTropical storm
Sep 16, 12:0020.1N 117.2E100 kt970 mbTropical storm
Sep 16, 18:0020.3N 116.8E100 kt970 mbTropical storm
Sep 17, 00:0020.4N 116.5E100 kt970 mbTropical storm
Sep 17, 06:0020.6N 116.3E100 kt970 mbTropical storm
Sep 17, 12:0020.8N 115.8E100 kt970 mbTropical storm
Sep 17, 18:0021.0N 115.3E100 kt970 mbTropical storm
Sep 18, 00:0021.3N 115.0E100 kt980 mbTropical storm
Sep 18, 06:0021.4N 114.5E110 kt980 mbTropical storm
Sep 18, 12:0021.7N 113.8E110 kt980 mbTropical storm
Sep 18, 18:0021.8N 112.9E110 kt980 mbTropical storm
Sep 19, 00:0021.5N 112.2E90 kt990 mbTropical storm
Sep 19, 06:0021.2N 111.6E80 kt992 mbTropical storm
Sep 19, 12:0021.0N 110.5E60 kt996 mbTropical storm
Sep 19, 18:0021.5N 109.5E50 kt1000 mbTropical storm
Sep 20, 00:0021.8N 109.0E40 kt1002 mbTropical storm
Sep 20, 06:0022.0N 108.5E30 kt1002 mbTropical storm
Sep 20, 12:0022.0N 108.0E25 ktTropical storm

Other Western Pacific storms of 1953

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.