Typhoon Polly (1956)

Typhoon Polly reached Category 2 in the Western Pacific between December 7, 1956 and December 10, 1956, with a lowest pressure of 980 mb, and made landfall.

Track and intensity

The whole track of Typhoon Polly, 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: December 7, 1956 to December 10, 1956
Peak strength: Category 2, 85 kt (98 mph)
Lowest pressure: 980 mb (28.94 inHg)
Landfall: Yes
Accumulated cyclone energy: 5.3
Identifier: WP231956

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)	Position	Wind	Pressure	Status
Dec 7, 06:00	13.6N 128.7E	25 kt	1002 mb	Tropical storm
Dec 7, 12:00	14.0N 128.0E	25 kt	1002 mb	Tropical storm
Dec 7, 18:00	14.3N 127.5E	50 kt	1002 mb	Tropical storm
Dec 8, 00:00	14.5N 126.7E	75 kt	1002 mb	Tropical storm
Dec 8, 06:00	14.3N 126.0E	75 kt	995 mb	Tropical storm
Dec 8, 12:00	14.0N 125.5E	75 kt	988 mb	Tropical storm
Dec 8, 18:00	13.8N 124.9E	80 kt	988 mb	Tropical storm
Dec 9, 00:00	13.6N 124.2E	85 kt	985 mb	Tropical storm
Dec 9, 06:00	13.6N 123.7E	80 kt	980 mb	Tropical storm
Dec 9, 12:00	13.6N 122.8E	70 kt	985 mb	Tropical storm
Dec 9, 18:00	13.6N 122.1E	65 kt	990 mb	Tropical storm
Dec 10, 00:00	13.6N 121.5E	60 kt	995 mb	Tropical storm
Dec 10, 06:00	13.5N 120.8E	35 kt	1000 mb	Tropical storm
Dec 10, 12:00	13.4N 120.1E		1005 mb	Tropical 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.