The 1956 season

Super Typhoon Gilda (1956)

Super Typhoon Gilda reached Category 5 in the Western Pacific between September 17, 1956 and September 25, 1956, with a lowest pressure of 935 mb, and made landfall.

Track and intensity

The whole track of Super Typhoon Gilda, 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 17, 1956 to September 25, 1956
Peak strength
Category 5, 140 kt (161 mph)
Lowest pressure
935 mb (27.61 inHg)
Landfall
Yes
Accumulated cyclone energy
20.3
Identifier
WP141956

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 17, 06:0012.0N 128.9ETropical storm
Sep 17, 12:0012.0N 128.1ETropical storm
Sep 17, 18:0012.0N 127.3ETropical storm
Sep 18, 00:0012.0N 126.6E80 kt988 mbTropical storm
Sep 18, 06:0012.1N 126.1E80 kt988 mbTropical storm
Sep 18, 12:0012.2N 125.4E80 kt990 mbTropical storm
Sep 18, 18:0012.4N 124.9E80 kt992 mbTropical storm
Sep 19, 00:0012.7N 124.2E70 kt992 mbTropical storm
Sep 19, 06:0013.6N 123.8E70 kt988 mbTropical storm
Sep 19, 12:0014.6N 123.9E70 kt982 mbTropical storm
Sep 19, 18:0015.5N 124.0E70 kt976 mbTropical storm
Sep 20, 00:0016.4N 123.8E105 kt972 mbTropical storm
Sep 20, 06:0017.3N 123.6E105 kt970 mbTropical storm
Sep 20, 12:0018.1N 123.3E105 kt970 mbTropical storm
Sep 20, 18:0019.1N 123.0E105 kt960 mbTropical storm
Sep 21, 00:0019.8N 122.5E130 kt946 mbTropical storm
Sep 21, 06:0020.1N 122.1E135 kt935 mbTropical storm
Sep 21, 12:0020.4N 121.5E140 kt935 mbTropical storm
Sep 21, 18:0020.9N 121.2E135 kt940 mbTropical storm
Sep 22, 00:0021.6N 121.2E130 kt945 mbTropical storm
Sep 22, 06:0022.1N 121.1E110 kt945 mbTropical storm
Sep 22, 12:0022.3N 120.4E70 kt945 mbTropical storm
Sep 22, 18:0022.8N 119.9E50 kt960 mbTropical storm
Sep 23, 00:0023.5N 119.2E50 kt970 mbTropical storm
Sep 23, 06:0024.2N 118.9E40 kt985 mbTropical storm
Sep 23, 12:0024.9N 118.2E30 kt994 mbTropical storm
Sep 23, 18:0025.2N 118.0E30 kt996 mbMixed
Sep 24, 00:0025.5N 117.5E30 ktMixed
Sep 24, 06:0026.0N 117.0E30 ktMixed
Sep 24, 12:0026.2N 116.8E20 ktMixed
Sep 24, 18:0032.3N 124.0EExtratropical
Sep 25, 00:0033.2N 127.0EExtratropical
Sep 25, 06:0034.0N 129.1EExtratropical
Sep 25, 12:0036.3N 133.0EExtratropical
Sep 25, 18:0038.0N 137.5EExtratropical

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.