The 1954 season

Super Typhoon Ida (1954)

Super Typhoon Ida reached Category 5 in the Western Pacific between August 18, 1954 and August 31, 1954, with a lowest pressure of 890 mb, and made landfall.

Track and intensity

The whole track of Super Typhoon Ida, 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
August 18, 1954 to August 31, 1954
Peak strength
Category 5, 150 kt (173 mph)
Lowest pressure
890 mb (26.28 inHg)
Landfall
Yes
Accumulated cyclone energy
24.6
Identifier
WP061954

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
Aug 18, 12:0010.0N 158.5E15 ktTropical storm
Aug 18, 18:0010.0N 157.9E15 ktTropical storm
Aug 19, 00:0010.0N 157.3E15 ktTropical storm
Aug 19, 06:0010.0N 156.7E15 ktTropical storm
Aug 19, 12:0010.0N 156.2E15 ktTropical storm
Aug 19, 18:0010.0N 155.5E15 ktTropical storm
Aug 20, 00:009.9N 155.0E15 ktTropical storm
Aug 20, 06:009.8N 154.5E15 ktTropical storm
Aug 20, 12:009.9N 153.9E15 ktTropical storm
Aug 20, 18:009.8N 153.3E15 ktTropical storm
Aug 21, 00:009.8N 152.8E20 ktTropical storm
Aug 21, 06:0010.0N 152.1E30 ktTropical storm
Aug 21, 12:0010.1N 151.7E30 ktTropical storm
Aug 21, 18:0010.3N 151.0E30 ktTropical storm
Aug 22, 00:0010.5N 150.5E30 ktTropical storm
Aug 22, 06:0010.7N 150.0E30 ktTropical storm
Aug 22, 12:0010.9N 149.5E30 ktTropical storm
Aug 22, 18:0011.2N 148.9E30 ktTropical storm
Aug 23, 00:0011.4N 148.4E30 ktTropical storm
Aug 23, 06:0011.8N 147.9E30 kt1006 mbMixed
Aug 23, 12:0012.0N 147.4E30 kt1004 mbMixed
Aug 23, 18:0012.3N 146.9E30 kt1004 mbMixed
Aug 24, 00:0012.7N 146.4E40 kt1004 mbTropical storm
Aug 24, 06:0012.9N 145.9E55 kt1000 mbTropical storm
Aug 24, 12:0013.4N 145.1E55 kt996 mbTropical storm
Aug 24, 18:0013.8N 143.1E55 kt996 mbTropical storm
Aug 25, 00:0014.4N 141.0E60 kt996 mbTropical storm
Aug 25, 06:0014.9N 139.1E65 kt970 mbTropical storm
Aug 25, 12:0015.3N 137.8E70 kt970 mbTropical storm
Aug 25, 18:0015.8N 136.1E75 kt960 mbTropical storm
Aug 26, 00:0016.1N 134.8E100 kt930 mbTropical storm
Aug 26, 06:0016.5N 132.8E130 kt895 mbTropical storm
Aug 26, 12:0016.9N 131.3E130 kt895 mbTropical storm
Aug 26, 18:0017.4N 129.8E150 kt895 mbTropical storm
Aug 27, 00:0018.1N 128.3E150 kt895 mbTropical storm
Aug 27, 06:0018.7N 126.9E130 kt890 mbTropical storm
Aug 27, 12:0019.2N 125.2E130 kt895 mbTropical storm
Aug 27, 18:0019.3N 123.8E125 kt895 mbTropical storm
Aug 28, 00:0019.6N 121.9E120 kt895 mbTropical storm
Aug 28, 06:0019.8N 120.2E90 kt910 mbTropical storm
Aug 28, 12:0019.8N 118.9E90 kt920 mbTropical storm
Aug 28, 18:0019.9N 117.1E90 kt920 mbTropical storm
Aug 29, 00:0020.5N 115.5E90 kt930 mbTropical storm
Aug 29, 06:0021.0N 114.0E90 kt940 mbTropical storm
Aug 29, 12:0021.2N 112.2E65 kt950 mbTropical storm
Aug 29, 18:0021.2N 110.5E65 kt960 mbTropical storm
Aug 30, 00:0021.5N 109.2E65 kt970 mbTropical storm
Aug 30, 06:0021.5N 108.0E60 kt980 mbTropical storm
Aug 30, 12:0021.6N 107.0E50 kt985 mbTropical storm
Aug 30, 18:0022.2N 105.0E45 kt990 mbTropical storm
Aug 31, 00:0023.0N 103.0E40 kt990 mbTropical storm
Aug 31, 06:0024.5N 101.5E35 kt992 mbTropical storm
Aug 31, 12:0026.0N 100.0E30 ktTropical 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.