The 1960 season

Typhoon Elaine (1960)

Typhoon Elaine reached Category 1 in the Western Pacific between August 17, 1960 and August 26, 1960, with a lowest pressure of 975 mb, and made landfall.

Radar

Reflectivity now over Typhoon Elaine. Open it to see storms, cones and warnings on the map.

Open the live radar with storms, cones and warnings

Radar mosaic and map layers from NOAA MRMS. Boundaries from the Iowa Environmental Mesonet.

The storm

Basin
Western Pacific
Dates
August 17, 1960 to August 26, 1960
Peak strength
Category 1, 75 kt (86 mph)
Lowest pressure
975 mb (28.79 inHg)
Landfall
Yes
Accumulated cyclone energy
5.6
Identifier
WP151960

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 17, 18:0021.5N 117.0EDisturbance
Aug 18, 00:0020.9N 116.3EDisturbance
Aug 18, 06:0020.7N 115.4E999 mbMixed
Aug 18, 12:0020.8N 114.9E998 mbMixed
Aug 18, 18:0020.4N 114.9E996 mbMixed
Aug 19, 00:0020.0N 115.0E996 mbTropical storm
Aug 19, 06:0019.6N 115.4E996 mbTropical storm
Aug 19, 12:0019.5N 116.0E996 mbTropical storm
Aug 19, 18:0019.3N 116.5E35 kt996 mbTropical storm
Aug 20, 00:0019.4N 116.6E35 kt992 mbTropical storm
Aug 20, 06:0019.7N 117.2E35 kt990 mbTropical storm
Aug 20, 12:0019.9N 117.8E40 kt988 mbTropical storm
Aug 20, 18:0020.1N 118.1E50 kt990 mbTropical storm
Aug 21, 00:0020.2N 118.6E60 kt990 mbTropical storm
Aug 21, 06:0020.3N 119.0E65 kt990 mbTropical storm
Aug 21, 12:0020.3N 119.5E70 kt990 mbTropical storm
Aug 21, 18:0020.4N 120.1E70 kt975 mbTropical storm
Aug 22, 00:0021.0N 120.9E75 kt975 mbTropical storm
Aug 22, 06:0021.7N 121.5E75 kt980 mbTropical storm
Aug 22, 12:0022.6N 122.1E65 kt980 mbTropical storm
Aug 22, 18:0023.5N 122.5E55 kt980 mbTropical storm
Aug 23, 00:0024.0N 122.4E50 kt985 mbTropical storm
Aug 23, 06:0023.5N 121.4E35 kt994 mbTropical storm
Aug 23, 12:0022.8N 120.3E35 kt996 mbTropical storm
Aug 23, 18:0022.9N 120.0E35 kt998 mbTropical storm
Aug 24, 00:0023.2N 119.6E40 kt996 mbTropical storm
Aug 24, 06:0023.4N 119.2E40 kt996 mbTropical storm
Aug 24, 12:0023.5N 118.8E40 kt996 mbTropical storm
Aug 24, 18:0023.5N 118.1E35 kt998 mbTropical storm
Aug 25, 00:0023.5N 117.2E30 kt1000 mbMixed
Aug 25, 06:0023.8N 116.5E20 kt998 mbMixed
Aug 25, 12:0023.6N 115.6E1000 mbMixed
Aug 25, 18:0023.3N 115.2EDisturbance
Aug 26, 00:0023.4N 114.7EDisturbance
Aug 26, 06:0024.0N 113.8EDisturbance
Aug 26, 12:0025.0N 113.8EDisturbance
Aug 26, 18:0026.0N 114.5EDisturbance

Other Western Pacific storms of 1960

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.