The 1957 season

Typhoon Shirley (1957)

Typhoon Shirley reached Category 3 in the Western Pacific between April 11, 1957 and April 18, 1957, with a lowest pressure of 975 mb, and made landfall.

Track and intensity

The whole track of Typhoon Shirley, colored by strength, with the other storms of the 1957 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
April 11, 1957 to April 18, 1957
Peak strength
Category 3, 100 kt (115 mph)
Lowest pressure
975 mb (28.79 inHg)
Landfall
Yes
Accumulated cyclone energy
8.3
Identifier
WP031957

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
Apr 11, 00:004.5N 135.7E20 ktTropical storm
Apr 11, 06:005.3N 135.4E20 kt1002 mbMixed
Apr 11, 12:005.9N 135.0E20 kt1002 mbMixed
Apr 11, 18:006.5N 134.5E20 kt1002 mbTropical storm
Apr 12, 00:007.0N 134.0E35 kt1002 mbTropical storm
Apr 12, 06:007.5N 133.2E35 kt1002 mbTropical storm
Apr 12, 12:008.2N 132.1E35 kt1002 mbTropical storm
Apr 12, 18:008.8N 131.0E35 kt1002 mbTropical storm
Apr 13, 00:009.4N 129.8E45 kt1002 mbTropical storm
Apr 13, 06:0010.0N 129.0E45 kt1002 mbTropical storm
Apr 13, 12:0010.5N 128.5E45 kt1002 mbTropical storm
Apr 13, 18:0011.0N 128.1E45 kt1000 mbTropical storm
Apr 14, 00:0011.8N 127.9E80 kt990 mbTropical storm
Apr 14, 06:0012.4N 127.8E80 kt980 mbTropical storm
Apr 14, 12:0013.2N 127.6E80 kt980 mbTropical storm
Apr 14, 18:0014.0N 127.5E80 kt980 mbTropical storm
Apr 15, 00:0014.7N 127.5E80 kt975 mbTropical storm
Apr 15, 06:0015.5N 127.5E100 kt975 mbTropical storm
Apr 15, 12:0016.0N 127.4E90 kt980 mbTropical storm
Apr 15, 18:0016.4N 127.3E80 kt985 mbTropical storm
Apr 16, 00:0016.8N 126.8E50 kt997 mbTropical storm
Apr 16, 06:0017.0N 126.5E40 kt998 mbTropical storm
Apr 16, 12:0017.2N 126.0E40 kt1000 mbTropical storm
Apr 16, 18:0017.5N 125.7E40 kt1004 mbTropical storm
Apr 17, 00:0017.7N 125.4E40 kt1005 mbTropical storm
Apr 17, 06:0018.0N 124.7E40 kt1005 mbTropical storm
Apr 17, 12:0018.2N 124.0E40 kt1005 mbTropical storm
Apr 17, 18:0018.3N 123.3E40 kt1005 mbTropical storm
Apr 18, 00:0018.3N 122.5E30 kt1010 mbTropical storm
Apr 18, 06:0017.9N 120.7E1008 mbMixed

Other Western Pacific storms of 1957

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.