The 1959 season

Super Typhoon Charlotte (1959)

Super Typhoon Charlotte reached Category 5 in the Western Pacific between October 7, 1959 and October 20, 1959, with a lowest pressure of 905 mb.

Track and intensity

The whole track of Super Typhoon Charlotte, 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.

Open the live map with storms, cones and warnings

The storm

Basin
Western Pacific
Dates
October 7, 1959 to October 20, 1959
Peak strength
Category 5, 145 kt (167 mph)
Lowest pressure
905 mb (26.72 inHg)
Landfall
No; closest approach 153 km (95 mi)
Accumulated cyclone energy
40.3
Fastest the center moved
57 kt (66 mph)
Identifier
WP181959

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
Oct 7, 18:009.0N 142.8EDisturbance
Oct 8, 00:009.2N 141.6EDisturbance
Oct 8, 06:009.4N 140.5EDisturbance
Oct 8, 12:009.6N 139.4EDisturbance
Oct 8, 18:009.8N 138.5EDisturbance
Oct 9, 00:0010.2N 137.6E25 kt1008 mbTropical storm
Oct 9, 06:0010.8N 136.9E30 kt1006 mbTropical storm
Oct 9, 12:0011.4N 136.2E30 kt1004 mbTropical storm
Oct 9, 18:0011.9N 135.5E30 kt1002 mbTropical storm
Oct 10, 00:0012.5N 134.8E35 kt1000 mbTropical storm
Oct 10, 06:0015.0N 134.1E50 kt998 mbTropical storm
Oct 10, 12:0015.4N 133.6E60 kt995 mbTropical storm
Oct 10, 18:0013.7N 133.1E80 kt990 mbTropical storm
Oct 11, 00:0014.2N 132.2E80 kt990 mbTropical storm
Oct 11, 06:0014.5N 131.4E90 kt985 mbTropical storm
Oct 11, 12:0014.9N 130.6E90 kt980 mbTropical storm
Oct 11, 18:0015.2N 129.8E100 kt975 mbTropical storm
Oct 12, 00:0015.6N 128.9E110 kt970 mbTropical storm
Oct 12, 06:0016.0N 128.1E115 kt960 mbTropical storm
Oct 12, 12:0016.5N 127.3E120 kt950 mbTropical storm
Oct 12, 18:0017.0N 126.6E125 kt940 mbTropical storm
Oct 13, 00:0017.7N 125.9E130 kt920 mbTropical storm
Oct 13, 06:0018.2N 125.6E140 kt905 mbTropical storm
Oct 13, 12:0018.7N 125.3E145 kt905 mbTropical storm
Oct 13, 18:0019.2N 125.0E140 kt905 mbTropical storm
Oct 14, 00:0019.5N 124.9E140 kt910 mbTropical storm
Oct 14, 06:0020.1N 124.6E140 kt915 mbTropical storm
Oct 14, 12:0020.7N 124.3E140 kt920 mbTropical storm
Oct 14, 18:0021.3N 124.3E135 kt925 mbTropical storm
Oct 15, 00:0021.7N 124.4E130 kt930 mbTropical storm
Oct 15, 06:0022.3N 124.7E120 kt935 mbTropical storm
Oct 15, 12:0023.0N 125.1E115 kt940 mbTropical storm
Oct 15, 18:0023.7N 125.7E110 kt950 mbTropical storm
Oct 16, 00:0024.5N 126.5E100 kt955 mbTropical storm
Oct 16, 06:0025.1N 127.4E100 kt960 mbTropical storm
Oct 16, 12:0025.6N 128.2E90 kt960 mbTropical storm
Oct 16, 18:0026.2N 128.8E90 kt965 mbTropical storm
Oct 17, 00:0026.5N 129.5E90 kt965 mbTropical storm
Oct 17, 06:0027.0N 130.1E80 kt970 mbTropical storm
Oct 17, 12:0027.4N 130.7E80 kt970 mbTropical storm
Oct 17, 18:0027.8N 131.4E75 kt975 mbTropical storm
Oct 18, 00:0028.7N 132.7E80 kt975 mbTropical storm
Oct 18, 06:0030.0N 134.6E75 kt975 mbTropical storm
Oct 18, 12:0031.2N 136.4E70 kt980 mbMixed
Oct 18, 18:0032.8N 139.3E60 kt990 mbMixed
Oct 19, 00:0034.8N 142.8E60 kt990 mbMixed
Oct 19, 06:0034.7N 144.6E50 kt992 mbMixed
Oct 19, 12:0034.5N 147.0E40 kt998 mbMixed
Oct 19, 18:0035.0N 152.0E30 kt1000 mbMixed
Oct 20, 00:0035.9N 161.0E1000 mbExtratropical
Oct 20, 06:0035.9N 165.0E998 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.