The 1961 season

Typhoon Ida (1961)

Typhoon Ida reached Category 1 in the Western Pacific between July 26, 1961 and July 31, 1961, with a lowest pressure of 980 mb.

Radar

Reflectivity now over Typhoon Ida. 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 26, 1961 to July 31, 1961
Peak strength
Category 1, 80 kt (92 mph)
Lowest pressure
980 mb (28.94 inHg)
Landfall
No; closest approach 34 km (21 mi)
Accumulated cyclone energy
5.0
Identifier
WP131961

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 26, 06:0019.6N 142.5EDisturbance
Jul 26, 12:0020.2N 142.6EDisturbance
Jul 26, 18:0020.9N 142.9EDisturbance
Jul 27, 00:0021.4N 143.2EDisturbance
Jul 27, 06:0021.8N 143.5ETropical storm
Jul 27, 12:0022.2N 143.8ETropical storm
Jul 27, 18:0022.0N 144.5E1002 mbTropical storm
Jul 28, 00:0021.9N 144.6E1000 mbTropical storm
Jul 28, 06:0021.9N 144.5E50 kt990 mbTropical storm
Jul 28, 12:0022.5N 144.2E55 kt985 mbTropical storm
Jul 28, 18:0023.1N 143.8E60 kt985 mbTropical storm
Jul 29, 00:0023.7N 143.2E70 kt985 mbTropical storm
Jul 29, 06:0024.3N 142.4E70 kt980 mbTropical storm
Jul 29, 12:0025.3N 141.3E80 kt980 mbTropical storm
Jul 29, 18:0025.9N 139.9E80 kt985 mbTropical storm
Jul 30, 00:0026.8N 138.7E75 kt990 mbTropical storm
Jul 30, 06:0028.0N 137.4E65 kt990 mbTropical storm
Jul 30, 12:0029.3N 136.3E60 kt990 mbTropical storm
Jul 30, 18:0030.4N 134.7E55 kt990 mbTropical storm
Jul 31, 00:0030.9N 132.4E45 kt992 mbTropical storm
Jul 31, 06:0030.7N 130.4E30 kt995 mbTropical storm
Jul 31, 12:0030.3N 128.7E20 kt996 mbTropical storm
Jul 31, 18:0030.0N 128.0E10 ktTropical storm

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.