The 1955 season

Super Typhoon Louise (1955)

Super Typhoon Louise reached Category 5 in the Western Pacific between September 20, 1955 and October 2, 1955, with a lowest pressure of 930 mb, and made landfall.

Track and intensity

The whole track of Super Typhoon Louise, colored by strength, with the other storms of the 1955 season in the same basin behind it, and its wind and pressure hour by hour. Every fix is in the track table below.

Open the live map with storms, cones and warnings

The storm

Basin
Western Pacific
Dates
September 20, 1955 to October 2, 1955
Peak strength
Category 5, 150 kt (173 mph)
Lowest pressure
930 mb (27.46 inHg)
Landfall
Yes
Accumulated cyclone energy
39.3
Fastest the center moved
72 kt (83 mph)
Identifier
WP151955

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 20, 00:0013.0N 150.0E1006 mbMixed
Sep 20, 06:0013.2N 149.3E1004 mbTropical storm
Sep 20, 12:0013.6N 148.5E1004 mbTropical storm
Sep 20, 18:0013.9N 147.7E1002 mbTropical storm
Sep 21, 00:0014.2N 146.9E1002 mbTropical storm
Sep 21, 06:0014.6N 146.2E55 kt1001 mbTropical storm
Sep 21, 12:0015.0N 146.2E55 kt1001 mbTropical storm
Sep 21, 18:0015.5N 146.2E55 kt1001 mbTropical storm
Sep 22, 00:0015.9N 146.3E60 kt1000 mbTropical storm
Sep 22, 06:0016.3N 146.3E65 kt995 mbTropical storm
Sep 22, 12:0016.6N 146.4E65 kt995 mbTropical storm
Sep 22, 18:0017.2N 146.4E65 kt995 mbTropical storm
Sep 23, 00:0017.7N 146.3E70 kt995 mbTropical storm
Sep 23, 06:0018.4N 145.9E75 kt995 mbTropical storm
Sep 23, 12:0019.3N 145.6E75 kt985 mbTropical storm
Sep 23, 18:0020.3N 145.1E75 kt975 mbTropical storm
Sep 24, 00:0021.2N 144.8E90 kt965 mbTropical storm
Sep 24, 06:0022.1N 144.2E105 kt955 mbTropical storm
Sep 24, 12:0022.9N 143.8E120 kt945 mbTropical storm
Sep 24, 18:0023.6N 143.0E120 kt930 mbTropical storm
Sep 25, 00:0024.2N 142.1E140 kt930 mbTropical storm
Sep 25, 06:0024.7N 141.2E140 kt930 mbTropical storm
Sep 25, 12:0024.9N 140.0E150 kt935 mbTropical storm
Sep 25, 18:0025.0N 139.0E150 kt935 mbTropical storm
Sep 26, 00:0025.2N 138.1E140 kt940 mbTropical storm
Sep 26, 06:0025.5N 137.2E130 kt940 mbTropical storm
Sep 26, 12:0025.8N 136.2E130 kt940 mbTropical storm
Sep 26, 18:0026.2N 135.2E130 kt940 mbTropical storm
Sep 27, 00:0026.5N 134.4E100 kt935 mbTropical storm
Sep 27, 06:0026.1N 134.7E100 kt935 mbTropical storm
Sep 27, 12:0026.7N 134.2E100 kt950 mbTropical storm
Sep 27, 18:0027.2N 133.2E100 kt945 mbTropical storm
Sep 28, 00:0027.3N 132.5E100 kt945 mbTropical storm
Sep 28, 06:0027.6N 131.6E100 kt940 mbTropical storm
Sep 28, 12:0028.2N 130.9E100 kt935 mbTropical storm
Sep 28, 18:0028.7N 130.6E100 kt940 mbTropical storm
Sep 29, 00:0029.5N 130.4E100 kt940 mbTropical storm
Sep 29, 06:0030.2N 130.3E70 kt940 mbTropical storm
Sep 29, 12:0031.2N 130.6E70 kt940 mbTropical storm
Sep 29, 18:0032.4N 131.0E70 kt955 mbTropical storm
Sep 30, 00:0034.5N 131.3E80 kt975 mbTropical storm
Sep 30, 06:0036.9N 132.4E90 kt980 mbTropical storm
Sep 30, 12:0039.5N 135.8E80 kt980 mbTropical storm
Sep 30, 18:0041.7N 139.4E75 kt985 mbMixed
Oct 1, 00:0043.8N 143.0E60 kt990 mbMixed
Oct 1, 06:0049.0N 150.0E45 kt992 mbMixed
Oct 1, 12:0052.0N 158.0E55 kt989 mbMixed
Oct 1, 18:0054.0N 164.5E45 kt988 mbMixed
Oct 2, 00:0057.0N 170.0E40 kt982 mbMixed
Oct 2, 06:0061.0N 180.0E970 mbExtratropical
Oct 2, 12:0061.0N 185.0EExtratropical

Other Western Pacific storms of 1955

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.