The 1959 season

Typhoon Billie (1959)

Typhoon Billie reached Category 2 in the Western Pacific between July 8, 1959 and July 19, 1959, with a lowest pressure of 970 mb, and made landfall.

Track and intensity

The whole track of Typhoon Billie, colored by strength, with the other storms of the 1959 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
July 8, 1959 to July 19, 1959
Peak strength
Category 2, 90 kt (104 mph)
Lowest pressure
970 mb (28.64 inHg)
Landfall
Yes
Accumulated cyclone energy
10.0
Fastest the center moved
32 kt (37 mph)
Identifier
WP051959

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
Jul 8, 12:008.3N 145.4EDisturbance
Jul 8, 18:008.3N 144.4EDisturbance
Jul 9, 00:008.3N 143.5EDisturbance
Jul 9, 06:008.3N 142.6ETropical storm
Jul 9, 12:008.3N 141.8ETropical storm
Jul 9, 18:008.3N 141.0ETropical storm
Jul 10, 00:008.3N 140.1ETropical storm
Jul 10, 06:008.4N 139.1ETropical storm
Jul 10, 12:008.6N 138.0E1006 mbTropical storm
Jul 10, 18:009.0N 137.0E1006 mbTropical storm
Jul 11, 00:009.6N 136.0E1004 mbTropical storm
Jul 11, 06:0010.8N 135.2E1002 mbTropical storm
Jul 11, 12:0011.6N 134.4E1002 mbTropical storm
Jul 11, 18:0012.3N 133.3E1002 mbTropical storm
Jul 12, 00:0012.6N 131.7E30 kt1000 mbTropical storm
Jul 12, 06:0013.4N 130.8E30 kt996 mbTropical storm
Jul 12, 12:0014.2N 130.2E35 kt990 mbTropical storm
Jul 12, 18:0015.0N 129.6E40 kt990 mbTropical storm
Jul 13, 00:0015.7N 129.1E50 kt990 mbTropical storm
Jul 13, 06:0016.3N 128.6E60 kt985 mbTropical storm
Jul 13, 12:0017.2N 128.0E70 kt980 mbTropical storm
Jul 13, 18:0018.2N 127.2E70 kt980 mbTropical storm
Jul 14, 00:0019.2N 126.5E80 kt980 mbTropical storm
Jul 14, 06:0020.3N 125.9E80 kt980 mbTropical storm
Jul 14, 12:0021.5N 125.2E90 kt980 mbTropical storm
Jul 14, 18:0022.7N 124.5E90 kt975 mbTropical storm
Jul 15, 00:0023.7N 123.7E90 kt970 mbTropical storm
Jul 15, 06:0024.7N 122.7E90 kt970 mbTropical storm
Jul 15, 12:0025.4N 121.8E80 kt970 mbTropical storm
Jul 15, 18:0026.1N 120.9E70 kt980 mbTropical storm
Jul 16, 00:0027.0N 120.2E65 kt984 mbTropical storm
Jul 16, 06:0028.1N 120.1E60 kt990 mbTropical storm
Jul 16, 12:0029.3N 120.5E60 kt988 mbTropical storm
Jul 16, 18:0030.7N 121.2E55 kt988 mbTropical storm
Jul 17, 00:0032.4N 122.2E50 kt990 mbTropical storm
Jul 17, 06:0034.7N 123.5E50 kt990 mbTropical storm
Jul 17, 12:0037.9N 125.7E45 kt990 mbTropical storm
Jul 17, 18:0039.7N 127.5E45 kt992 mbMixed
Jul 18, 00:0041.3N 130.5E40 kt994 mbMixed
Jul 18, 06:0041.3N 131.3E996 mbExtratropical
Jul 18, 12:0041.5N 133.0E998 mbExtratropical
Jul 18, 18:0041.5N 135.0E1000 mbExtratropical
Jul 19, 00:0041.6N 136.7E1004 mbExtratropical
Jul 19, 06:0042.1N 138.0E1008 mbExtratropical
Jul 19, 12:0042.3N 139.0E1010 mbExtratropical
Jul 19, 18:0042.9N 139.9E1010 mbExtratropical

Other Western Pacific storms of 1959

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.