The 1959 season

Typhoon Iris (1959)

Typhoon Iris reached Category 2 in the Western Pacific between August 18, 1959 and August 23, 1959, with a lowest pressure of 965 mb, and made landfall.

Track and intensity

The whole track of Typhoon Iris, 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
August 18, 1959 to August 23, 1959
Peak strength
Category 2, 90 kt (104 mph)
Lowest pressure
965 mb (28.50 inHg)
Landfall
Yes
Accumulated cyclone energy
8.6
Identifier
WP081959

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
Aug 18, 18:0016.0N 129.7EDisturbance
Aug 19, 00:0016.2N 128.4E45 kt1006 mbTropical storm
Aug 19, 06:0016.2N 128.0E45 kt1006 mbTropical storm
Aug 19, 12:0016.3N 127.3E50 kt1006 mbTropical storm
Aug 19, 18:0016.3N 126.8E55 kt1000 mbTropical storm
Aug 20, 00:0016.4N 126.1E60 kt996 mbTropical storm
Aug 20, 06:0016.6N 125.5E70 kt995 mbTropical storm
Aug 20, 12:0016.8N 124.8E70 kt990 mbTropical storm
Aug 20, 18:0017.2N 124.1E70 kt985 mbTropical storm
Aug 21, 00:0017.4N 123.7E80 kt985 mbTropical storm
Aug 21, 06:0017.9N 123.2E80 kt985 mbTropical storm
Aug 21, 12:0018.5N 122.5E80 kt980 mbTropical storm
Aug 21, 18:0019.4N 121.6E85 kt980 mbTropical storm
Aug 22, 00:0020.3N 120.9E90 kt978 mbTropical storm
Aug 22, 06:0021.4N 120.2E90 kt970 mbTropical storm
Aug 22, 12:0022.6N 119.3E80 kt965 mbTropical storm
Aug 22, 18:0023.9N 118.4E60 kt965 mbTropical storm
Aug 23, 00:0025.0N 117.3E50 kt980 mbTropical storm
Aug 23, 06:0027.0N 114.0E40 kt990 mbMixed
Aug 23, 12:0028.5N 111.0E35 kt995 mbTropical storm
Aug 23, 18:0030.5N 108.0E30 kt998 mbTropical storm

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.