The 1961 season

Typhoon Clara (1961)

Typhoon Clara reached Category 1 in the Western Pacific between October 25, 1961 and November 1, 1961, with a lowest pressure of 985 mb.

Radar

Reflectivity now over Typhoon Clara. 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
October 25, 1961 to November 1, 1961
Peak strength
Category 1, 75 kt (86 mph)
Lowest pressure
985 mb (29.09 inHg)
Landfall
No; closest approach 1084 km (674 mi)
Accumulated cyclone energy
5.6
Identifier
WP251961

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 25, 06:0017.0N 166.0E1006 mbTropical storm
Oct 25, 12:0017.5N 166.0E1008 mbTropical storm
Oct 25, 18:0017.8N 166.0E1004 mbTropical storm
Oct 26, 00:0018.0N 166.2E1004 mbTropical storm
Oct 26, 06:0018.0N 166.5E1003 mbTropical storm
Oct 26, 12:0017.9N 167.1E50 kt1004 mbTropical storm
Oct 26, 18:0018.5N 167.9E50 kt1002 mbTropical storm
Oct 27, 00:0018.9N 168.8E60 kt1000 mbTropical storm
Oct 27, 06:0019.1N 169.3E60 kt1000 mbTropical storm
Oct 27, 12:0018.8N 169.5E65 kt1000 mbTropical storm
Oct 27, 18:0018.7N 168.8E70 kt990 mbTropical storm
Oct 28, 00:0018.5N 167.9E75 kt985 mbTropical storm
Oct 28, 06:0018.4N 166.7E75 kt985 mbTropical storm
Oct 28, 12:0018.6N 165.6E70 kt990 mbTropical storm
Oct 28, 18:0019.1N 164.7E60 kt990 mbTropical storm
Oct 29, 00:0019.8N 163.8E60 kt994 mbTropical storm
Oct 29, 06:0020.4N 162.7E50 kt994 mbTropical storm
Oct 29, 12:0020.8N 161.4E50 kt994 mbTropical storm
Oct 29, 18:0020.9N 159.9E40 kt994 mbTropical storm
Oct 30, 00:0021.3N 158.4E40 kt994 mbTropical storm
Oct 30, 06:0022.0N 157.0E40 kt994 mbTropical storm
Oct 30, 12:0022.9N 155.6E35 kt994 mbTropical storm
Oct 30, 18:0023.4N 153.9E30 kt994 mbTropical storm
Oct 31, 00:0023.4N 152.2E30 kt1000 mbTropical storm
Oct 31, 06:0023.6N 150.3E30 kt1004 mbTropical storm
Oct 31, 12:0024.0N 148.8E30 kt1006 mbTropical storm
Oct 31, 18:0024.8N 147.8E30 kt1008 mbTropical storm
Nov 1, 00:0025.8N 147.3E25 kt1010 mbTropical storm
Nov 1, 06:0026.8N 147.3E25 kt1010 mbMixed

Other Western Pacific storms of 1961

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.