The 1956 season

Super Typhoon Emma (1956)

Super Typhoon Emma reached Category 4 in the Western Pacific between September 1, 1956 and September 11, 1956, with a lowest pressure of 930 mb, and made landfall.

Track and intensity

The whole track of Super Typhoon Emma, 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
September 1, 1956 to September 11, 1956
Peak strength
Category 4, 135 kt (155 mph)
Lowest pressure
930 mb (27.46 inHg)
Landfall
Yes
Accumulated cyclone energy
36.7
Fastest the center moved
37 kt (43 mph)
Identifier
WP121956

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 1, 00:0023.5N 140.0E1006 mbTropical storm
Sep 1, 06:0023.5N 141.0E35 kt1004 mbTropical storm
Sep 1, 12:0024.3N 141.1E35 kt1004 mbTropical storm
Sep 1, 18:0025.0N 141.3E35 kt1004 mbMixed
Sep 2, 00:0025.3N 142.0E35 kt1004 mbMixed
Sep 2, 06:0025.2N 142.5E30 kt1002 mbTropical storm
Sep 2, 12:0024.7N 142.3E30 kt1002 mbTropical storm
Sep 2, 18:0024.2N 142.1E40 kt1000 mbTropical storm
Sep 3, 00:0024.0N 141.5E45 kt996 mbTropical storm
Sep 3, 06:0023.1N 141.0E65 kt995 mbTropical storm
Sep 3, 12:0022.5N 140.0E65 kt993 mbTropical storm
Sep 3, 18:0021.9N 139.0E80 kt993 mbTropical storm
Sep 4, 00:0021.2N 138.0E80 kt985 mbTropical storm
Sep 4, 06:0020.5N 137.2E80 kt980 mbTropical storm
Sep 4, 12:0020.0N 136.4E80 kt975 mbTropical storm
Sep 4, 18:0019.5N 135.5E90 kt975 mbTropical storm
Sep 5, 00:0019.2N 134.5E100 kt970 mbTropical storm
Sep 5, 06:0019.0N 134.0E100 kt960 mbTropical storm
Sep 5, 12:0019.0N 133.5E100 kt950 mbTropical storm
Sep 5, 18:0019.2N 133.0E100 kt950 mbTropical storm
Sep 6, 00:0019.3N 132.9E110 kt950 mbTropical storm
Sep 6, 06:0020.2N 132.7E120 kt950 mbTropical storm
Sep 6, 12:0021.0N 132.1E125 kt940 mbTropical storm
Sep 6, 18:0021.9N 131.8E125 kt940 mbTropical storm
Sep 7, 00:0022.8N 131.2E125 kt940 mbTropical storm
Sep 7, 06:0024.0N 130.2E125 kt940 mbTropical storm
Sep 7, 12:0025.0N 129.0E130 kt940 mbTropical storm
Sep 7, 18:0025.9N 128.0E130 kt940 mbTropical storm
Sep 8, 00:0026.3N 127.2E130 kt935 mbTropical storm
Sep 8, 06:0026.5N 127.0E130 kt930 mbTropical storm
Sep 8, 12:0027.4N 126.8E135 kt930 mbTropical storm
Sep 8, 18:0028.3N 127.0E130 kt930 mbTropical storm
Sep 9, 00:0029.7N 127.3E120 kt935 mbTropical storm
Sep 9, 06:0031.0N 127.5E115 kt940 mbTropical storm
Sep 9, 12:0032.0N 127.9E110 kt940 mbTropical storm
Sep 9, 18:0034.0N 129.0E105 kt950 mbTropical storm
Sep 10, 00:0036.5N 130.7E100 kt950 mbTropical storm
Sep 10, 06:0039.8N 132.5E100 kt960 mbTropical storm
Sep 10, 12:0043.0N 134.5E75 kt965 mbMixed
Sep 10, 18:0045.0N 134.9E65 kt975 mbMixed
Sep 11, 00:0047.0N 133.5E50 kt986 mbMixed
Sep 11, 06:0048.5N 131.5E40 ktMixed
Sep 11, 12:0049.5N 128.0E25 ktMixed

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.