The 1961 season

Typhoon Lorna (1961)

Typhoon Lorna reached Category 4 in the Western Pacific between August 19, 1961 and August 28, 1961, with a lowest pressure of 950 mb, and made landfall.

Radar

Reflectivity now over Typhoon Lorna. 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 19, 1961 to August 28, 1961
Peak strength
Category 4, 120 kt (138 mph)
Lowest pressure
950 mb (28.05 inHg)
Landfall
Yes
Accumulated cyclone energy
16.3
Identifier
WP161961

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 19, 00:0012.3N 133.8E1006 mbMixed
Aug 19, 06:0012.8N 132.7E1005 mbTropical storm
Aug 19, 12:0013.7N 132.0E1004 mbTropical storm
Aug 19, 18:0014.3N 131.2E1002 mbTropical storm
Aug 20, 00:0015.1N 130.8E1004 mbTropical storm
Aug 20, 06:0015.6N 130.5E1002 mbTropical storm
Aug 20, 12:0015.7N 129.9E40 kt1000 mbTropical storm
Aug 20, 18:0016.3N 129.6E45 kt1000 mbTropical storm
Aug 21, 00:0016.7N 129.3E55 kt1002 mbTropical storm
Aug 21, 06:0017.2N 128.8E70 kt994 mbTropical storm
Aug 21, 12:0017.3N 128.3E70 kt992 mbTropical storm
Aug 21, 18:0017.0N 127.6E75 kt990 mbTropical storm
Aug 22, 00:0016.6N 127.3E80 kt985 mbTropical storm
Aug 22, 06:0016.5N 127.6E85 kt980 mbTropical storm
Aug 22, 12:0016.8N 127.4E90 kt980 mbTropical storm
Aug 22, 18:0017.1N 126.9E95 kt975 mbTropical storm
Aug 23, 00:0017.4N 126.5E100 kt970 mbTropical storm
Aug 23, 06:0017.9N 125.9E110 kt970 mbTropical storm
Aug 23, 12:0018.4N 125.4E110 kt970 mbTropical storm
Aug 23, 18:0019.0N 124.7E110 kt965 mbTropical storm
Aug 24, 00:0019.7N 124.0E115 kt960 mbTropical storm
Aug 24, 06:0020.4N 123.2E120 kt955 mbTropical storm
Aug 24, 12:0021.2N 122.4E120 kt950 mbTropical storm
Aug 24, 18:0021.8N 121.6E100 kt950 mbTropical storm
Aug 25, 00:0022.7N 120.7E65 kt970 mbTropical storm
Aug 25, 06:0023.1N 119.7E60 kt975 mbTropical storm
Aug 25, 12:0023.8N 119.3E50 kt980 mbTropical storm
Aug 25, 18:0024.2N 118.9E40 kt980 mbTropical storm
Aug 26, 00:0024.9N 117.8E30 kt980 mbTropical storm
Aug 26, 06:0025.3N 116.8E20 kt990 mbMixed
Aug 26, 12:0025.5N 116.1E20 kt990 mbMixed
Aug 26, 18:0026.1N 115.0E994 mbMixed
Aug 27, 00:0026.4N 114.3E994 mbMixed
Aug 27, 06:0026.6N 113.9E996 mbMixed
Aug 27, 12:0026.8N 113.5E998 mbMixed
Aug 27, 18:0026.7N 113.0E1000 mbMixed
Aug 28, 00:0026.3N 112.2E1002 mbMixed
Aug 28, 06:0025.3N 111.3EDisturbance
Aug 28, 12:0025.0N 110.5EDisturbance

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.