The 1954 season

Typhoon Elsie (1954)

Typhoon Elsie reached Category 3 in the Western Pacific between May 5, 1954 and May 12, 1954, with a lowest pressure of 945 mb, and made landfall.

Track and intensity

The whole track of Typhoon Elsie, colored by strength, with the other storms of the 1954 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
May 5, 1954 to May 12, 1954
Peak strength
Category 3, 100 kt (115 mph)
Lowest pressure
945 mb (27.91 inHg)
Landfall
Yes
Accumulated cyclone energy
11.2
Identifier
WP021954

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 5, 00:007.1N 131.4E35 kt1008 mbTropical storm
May 5, 06:007.1N 130.3E35 kt1006 mbTropical storm
May 5, 12:007.1N 129.5E35 kt1006 mbTropical storm
May 5, 18:007.0N 128.6E35 kt1006 mbTropical storm
May 6, 00:007.3N 127.7E35 kt1006 mbTropical storm
May 6, 06:007.8N 127.1E35 kt1006 mbTropical storm
May 6, 12:008.5N 126.4E35 kt1006 mbTropical storm
May 6, 18:009.0N 125.6E35 kt1006 mbTropical storm
May 7, 00:009.3N 124.8E35 kt1006 mbTropical storm
May 7, 06:009.6N 124.0E35 kt1006 mbTropical storm
May 7, 12:0010.0N 123.0E35 kt1006 mbTropical storm
May 7, 18:0010.3N 121.8E35 kt1006 mbTropical storm
May 8, 00:0010.3N 120.7E35 kt1006 mbTropical storm
May 8, 06:0010.5N 119.4E35 kt1006 mbTropical storm
May 8, 12:0011.0N 118.2E35 kt1002 mbTropical storm
May 8, 18:0011.4N 117.2E55 kt1000 mbTropical storm
May 9, 00:0011.8N 116.0E75 kt950 mbTropical storm
May 9, 06:0012.3N 114.8E75 kt945 mbTropical storm
May 9, 12:0012.7N 114.0E75 kt945 mbTropical storm
May 9, 18:0013.2N 113.2E90 kt950 mbTropical storm
May 10, 00:0013.6N 112.5E100 kt955 mbTropical storm
May 10, 06:0014.1N 111.9E100 kt955 mbTropical storm
May 10, 12:0015.0N 111.2E100 kt955 mbTropical storm
May 10, 18:0015.6N 110.8E100 kt955 mbTropical storm
May 11, 00:0016.7N 110.2E80 kt950 mbTropical storm
May 11, 06:0017.4N 109.6E60 kt950 mbTropical storm
May 11, 12:0018.3N 109.1E60 kt950 mbTropical storm
May 11, 18:0019.8N 108.9E60 kt950 mbTropical storm
May 12, 00:0021.0N 109.0E60 kt960 mbTropical storm
May 12, 06:0021.0N 106.5E55 kt960 mbTropical storm
May 12, 12:0022.0N 105.0E40 kt980 mbTropical storm
May 12, 18:0023.0N 103.5E25 kt990 mbTropical storm

Other Western Pacific storms of 1954

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.