The 1959 season

Super Typhoon Vera (1959)

Super Typhoon Vera reached Category 5 in the Western Pacific between September 20, 1959 and September 29, 1959, with a lowest pressure of 895 mb, and made landfall.

Track and intensity

The whole track of Super Typhoon Vera, 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
September 20, 1959 to September 29, 1959
Peak strength
Category 5, 165 kt (190 mph)
Lowest pressure
895 mb (26.43 inHg)
Landfall
Yes
Accumulated cyclone energy
36.2
Fastest the center moved
52 kt (60 mph)
Identifier
WP151959

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
Sep 20, 00:0011.0N 160.0E1008 mbTropical storm
Sep 20, 06:0010.0N 157.3E1005 mbTropical storm
Sep 20, 12:0010.0N 154.7E1008 mbTropical storm
Sep 20, 18:0011.0N 152.2E1006 mbTropical storm
Sep 21, 00:0012.0N 150.0E1006 mbTropical storm
Sep 21, 06:0013.7N 150.2E1006 mbTropical storm
Sep 21, 12:0014.8N 150.0E1002 mbTropical storm
Sep 21, 18:0015.8N 148.5E35 kt1000 mbTropical storm
Sep 22, 00:0016.2N 147.6E40 kt996 mbTropical storm
Sep 22, 06:0016.6N 146.7E50 kt970 mbTropical storm
Sep 22, 12:0017.1N 145.8E60 kt960 mbTropical storm
Sep 22, 18:0017.5N 144.9E70 kt940 mbTropical storm
Sep 23, 00:0018.2N 143.9E110 kt905 mbTropical storm
Sep 23, 06:0018.8N 142.9E155 kt895 mbTropical storm
Sep 23, 12:0019.5N 142.0E165 kt895 mbTropical storm
Sep 23, 18:0020.2N 141.0E165 kt895 mbTropical storm
Sep 24, 00:0020.8N 140.0E155 kt900 mbXX
Sep 24, 06:0021.6N 139.0E155 kt910 mbTropical storm
Sep 24, 12:0022.4N 138.1E155 kt910 mbTropical storm
Sep 24, 18:0023.4N 137.2E155 kt910 mbTropical storm
Sep 25, 00:0024.4N 136.4E155 kt900 mbTropical storm
Sep 25, 06:0025.6N 135.7E140 kt905 mbTropical storm
Sep 25, 12:0026.8N 135.7E140 kt910 mbTropical storm
Sep 25, 18:0028.3N 134.9E140 kt910 mbTropical storm
Sep 26, 00:0030.1N 134.9E140 kt920 mbTropical storm
Sep 26, 06:0032.2N 135.3E140 kt920 mbTropical storm
Sep 26, 12:0035.3N 136.6E110 kt940 mbTropical storm
Sep 26, 18:0038.3N 138.9E90 kt965 mbTropical storm
Sep 27, 00:0040.6N 142.2E75 kt984 mbTropical storm
Sep 27, 06:0042.6N 145.9E70 kt982 mbMixed
Sep 27, 12:0043.0N 150.0E50 kt982 mbMixed
Sep 27, 18:0042.2N 154.0E45 kt990 mbMixed
Sep 28, 00:0041.5N 158.0E40 kt992 mbMixed
Sep 28, 06:0040.8N 162.0E40 kt992 mbMixed
Sep 28, 12:0040.0N 167.0E35 kt992 mbMixed
Sep 28, 18:0038.5N 172.3E990 mbExtratropical
Sep 29, 00:0036.3N 175.5E994 mbExtratropical
Sep 29, 06:0036.0N 178.5E994 mbExtratropical
Sep 29, 12:0035.9N 184.0EExtratropical

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.