The 1956 season

Typhoon Babs (1956)

Typhoon Babs reached Category 3 in the Western Pacific between August 10, 1956 and August 19, 1956, with a lowest pressure of 960 mb, and made landfall.

Track and intensity

The whole track of Typhoon Babs, colored by strength, with the other storms of the 1956 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 10, 1956 to August 19, 1956
Peak strength
Category 3, 100 kt (115 mph)
Lowest pressure
960 mb (28.35 inHg)
Landfall
Yes
Accumulated cyclone energy
15.0
Identifier
WP091956

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 10, 06:0016.0N 126.0E1002 mbMixed
Aug 10, 12:0017.3N 126.5E1004 mbTropical storm
Aug 10, 18:0018.3N 127.0E1004 mbTropical storm
Aug 11, 00:0019.2N 127.5E1002 mbTropical storm
Aug 11, 06:0020.0N 128.0E1000 mbTropical storm
Aug 11, 12:0020.4N 128.0E1000 mbTropical storm
Aug 11, 18:0020.8N 127.9E1000 mbTropical storm
Aug 12, 00:0021.0N 127.1E45 kt1000 mbTropical storm
Aug 12, 06:0021.0N 127.0E45 kt996 mbTropical storm
Aug 12, 12:0021.0N 127.0E45 kt994 mbTropical storm
Aug 12, 18:0021.0N 126.9E45 kt994 mbTropical storm
Aug 13, 00:0021.1N 126.9E55 kt992 mbTropical storm
Aug 13, 06:0021.1N 126.8E55 kt990 mbTropical storm
Aug 13, 12:0021.2N 126.7E55 kt988 mbTropical storm
Aug 13, 18:0021.2N 126.5E55 kt984 mbTropical storm
Aug 14, 00:0021.4N 126.2E70 kt980 mbTropical storm
Aug 14, 06:0021.8N 125.7E90 kt980 mbTropical storm
Aug 14, 12:0022.6N 125.5E90 kt980 mbTropical storm
Aug 14, 18:0023.3N 126.1E95 kt980 mbTropical storm
Aug 15, 00:0024.5N 126.0E100 kt970 mbTropical storm
Aug 15, 06:0024.8N 125.8E100 kt960 mbTropical storm
Aug 15, 12:0025.8N 125.5E100 kt960 mbTropical storm
Aug 15, 18:0027.2N 126.5E100 kt965 mbTropical storm
Aug 16, 00:0029.0N 127.3E95 kt965 mbTropical storm
Aug 16, 06:0030.7N 127.8E90 kt965 mbTropical storm
Aug 16, 12:0032.1N 128.0E85 kt965 mbTropical storm
Aug 16, 18:0033.2N 129.0E80 kt965 mbTropical storm
Aug 17, 00:0034.5N 130.9E80 kt965 mbTropical storm
Aug 17, 06:0036.0N 132.8E80 kt965 mbTropical storm
Aug 17, 12:0037.9N 134.6E80 kt970 mbTropical storm
Aug 17, 18:0038.5N 137.0E65 kt975 mbTropical storm
Aug 18, 00:0039.0N 137.5E50 kt975 mbMixed
Aug 18, 06:0040.0N 138.5E40 kt985 mbMixed
Aug 18, 12:0041.0N 139.5E35 kt994 mbMixed
Aug 18, 18:0042.0N 140.0E30 kt998 mbMixed
Aug 19, 00:0043.0N 140.0E999 mbTropical storm
Aug 19, 06:0043.0N 140.0E1002 mbTropical storm
Aug 19, 12:0043.0N 140.0E1004 mbTropical storm
Aug 19, 18:0043.0N 140.0E1002 mbTropical storm

Other Western Pacific storms of 1956

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.