The 1960 season

Super Typhoon Shirley (1960)

Super Typhoon Shirley reached Category 4 in the Western Pacific between July 27, 1960 and August 6, 1960, with a lowest pressure of 910 mb, and made landfall.

Radar

Reflectivity now over Super Typhoon Shirley. 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
July 27, 1960 to August 6, 1960
Peak strength
Category 4, 135 kt (155 mph)
Lowest pressure
910 mb (26.87 inHg)
Landfall
Yes
Accumulated cyclone energy
12.6
Identifier
WP081960

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 27, 18:0012.7N 134.0E1006 mbMixed
Jul 28, 00:0013.7N 130.9E1006 mbMixed
Jul 28, 06:0014.9N 129.6E1004 mbMixed
Jul 28, 12:0016.1N 128.6E1004 mbMixed
Jul 28, 18:0017.0N 128.0E1004 mbMixed
Jul 29, 00:0018.2N 128.1E25 kt1002 mbMixed
Jul 29, 06:0018.9N 127.5E35 kt1000 mbTropical storm
Jul 29, 12:0019.6N 126.9E45 kt998 mbTropical storm
Jul 29, 18:0020.2N 126.2E50 kt990 mbTropical storm
Jul 30, 00:0020.8N 125.6E65 kt985 mbTropical storm
Jul 30, 06:0021.6N 125.0E90 kt970 mbTropical storm
Jul 30, 12:0022.2N 124.3E110 kt920 mbTropical storm
Jul 30, 18:0022.8N 123.8E130 kt920 mbTropical storm
Jul 31, 00:0023.6N 123.4E135 kt910 mbTropical storm
Jul 31, 06:0024.2N 122.8E130 kt910 mbTropical storm
Jul 31, 12:0024.7N 122.2E120 kt930 mbTropical storm
Jul 31, 18:0025.1N 121.4E100 kt950 mbTropical storm
Aug 1, 00:0025.5N 120.7E90 kt960 mbTropical storm
Aug 1, 06:0026.0N 120.1E70 kt970 mbTropical storm
Aug 1, 12:0026.6N 119.7E60 kt975 mbTropical storm
Aug 1, 18:0027.6N 119.3E45 kt985 mbTropical storm
Aug 2, 00:0028.9N 119.3E35 kt990 mbMixed
Aug 2, 06:0030.4N 118.9E30 kt994 mbMixed
Aug 2, 12:0031.4N 118.2E20 kt996 mbMixed
Aug 2, 18:0032.3N 117.9E20 kt996 mbMixed
Aug 3, 00:0032.5N 117.4E996 mbMixed
Aug 3, 06:0033.3N 117.7E996 mbMixed
Aug 3, 12:0033.8N 118.5E996 mbMixed
Aug 3, 18:0034.3N 119.3E996 mbTropical storm
Aug 4, 00:0034.8N 120.3E996 mbTropical storm
Aug 4, 06:0035.1N 120.6E996 mbTropical storm
Aug 4, 12:0035.5N 120.8E994 mbTropical storm
Aug 4, 18:0035.9N 120.9E994 mbTropical storm
Aug 5, 00:0036.5N 120.6E994 mbTropical storm
Aug 5, 06:0037.0N 120.3E994 mbTropical storm
Aug 5, 12:0037.4N 119.9E998 mbTropical storm
Aug 5, 18:0037.8N 119.5E1000 mbMixed
Aug 6, 00:0038.4N 118.6E1002 mbMixed
Aug 6, 06:0038.8N 118.0E1003 mbMixed

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.