The 1961 season

Super Typhoon Dot (1961)

Super Typhoon Dot reached Category 5 in the Western Pacific between November 7, 1961 and November 16, 1961, with a lowest pressure of 930 mb.

Radar

Reflectivity now over Super Typhoon Dot. 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
November 7, 1961 to November 16, 1961
Peak strength
Category 5, 140 kt (161 mph)
Lowest pressure
930 mb (27.46 inHg)
Landfall
No; closest approach 1379 km (857 mi)
Accumulated cyclone energy
35.7
Identifier
WP261961

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
Nov 7, 12:0014.2N 153.0E1008 mbTropical storm
Nov 7, 18:0014.5N 151.9E1008 mbMixed
Nov 8, 00:0014.9N 151.6E1000 mbTropical storm
Nov 8, 06:0015.3N 152.4E1000 mbTropical storm
Nov 8, 12:0015.8N 153.3E995 mbTropical storm
Nov 8, 18:0016.5N 154.1E985 mbTropical storm
Nov 9, 00:0017.3N 152.8E100 kt980 mbTropical storm
Nov 9, 06:0017.6N 151.6E110 kt980 mbTropical storm
Nov 9, 12:0017.7N 150.3E120 kt980 mbTropical storm
Nov 9, 18:0017.8N 149.1E130 kt980 mbTropical storm
Nov 10, 00:0017.8N 147.9E130 kt980 mbTropical storm
Nov 10, 06:0017.8N 146.7E130 kt970 mbTropical storm
Nov 10, 12:0017.9N 145.5E130 kt960 mbTropical storm
Nov 10, 18:0018.0N 144.2E140 kt950 mbTropical storm
Nov 11, 00:0018.2N 143.2E140 kt940 mbTropical storm
Nov 11, 06:0018.3N 142.3E140 kt930 mbTropical storm
Nov 11, 12:0018.8N 141.4E140 kt930 mbTropical storm
Nov 11, 18:0019.3N 140.8E140 kt930 mbTropical storm
Nov 12, 00:0019.6N 140.4E135 kt930 mbTropical storm
Nov 12, 06:0020.0N 140.4E130 kt930 mbTropical storm
Nov 12, 12:0020.4N 140.6E125 kt940 mbTropical storm
Nov 12, 18:0020.9N 141.2E115 kt950 mbTropical storm
Nov 13, 00:0021.5N 142.0E110 kt960 mbTropical storm
Nov 13, 06:0022.2N 143.2E110 kt960 mbTropical storm
Nov 13, 12:0022.9N 144.7E110 kt960 mbTropical storm
Nov 13, 18:0023.7N 146.3E110 kt960 mbTropical storm
Nov 14, 00:0024.5N 148.0E110 kt970 mbTropical storm
Nov 14, 06:0025.4N 150.1E105 kt970 mbTropical storm
Nov 14, 12:0026.4N 152.6E90 kt970 mbTropical storm
Nov 14, 18:0027.4N 155.3E70 kt980 mbTropical storm
Nov 15, 00:0028.7N 158.5E50 kt990 mbTropical storm
Nov 15, 06:0030.1N 162.2E40 kt1000 mbTropical storm
Nov 15, 12:0031.3N 165.4E35 kt1006 mbMixed
Nov 15, 18:0032.4N 168.1E35 kt1010 mbMixed
Nov 16, 00:0033.6N 171.1E1014 mbExtratropical
Nov 16, 06:0035.0N 174.0E1012 mbExtratropical
Nov 16, 12:0036.5N 177.6E1012 mbExtratropical
Nov 16, 18:0038.1N 181.6EExtratropical

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.