The 1961 season

Typhoon Olga (1961)

Typhoon Olga reached Category 1 in the Western Pacific between September 4, 1961 and September 11, 1961, with a lowest pressure of 985 mb, and made landfall.

Track and intensity

The whole track of Typhoon Olga, colored by strength, with the other storms of the 1961 season in the same basin behind it, and its wind and pressure hour by hour. Every fix is in the track table below.

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The storm

Basin
Western Pacific
Dates
September 4, 1961 to September 11, 1961
Peak strength
Category 1, 70 kt (81 mph)
Lowest pressure
985 mb (29.09 inHg)
Landfall
Yes
Accumulated cyclone energy
2.2
Identifier
WP191961

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
Sep 4, 00:0015.0N 126.5EDisturbance
Sep 4, 06:0015.9N 125.9E1006 mbMixed
Sep 4, 12:0016.5N 125.7E1006 mbMixed
Sep 4, 18:0016.8N 125.7E1006 mbMixed
Sep 5, 00:0017.1N 126.3E1008 mbMixed
Sep 5, 06:0017.6N 126.6E1006 mbMixed
Sep 5, 12:0017.9N 126.8E1008 mbMixed
Sep 5, 18:0018.3N 126.9E1007 mbMixed
Sep 6, 00:0018.9N 125.8E1007 mbMixed
Sep 6, 06:0019.2N 124.5E1006 mbMixed
Sep 6, 12:0019.4N 123.5E1004 mbMixed
Sep 6, 18:0019.6N 122.2E1003 mbTropical storm
Sep 7, 00:0019.7N 120.0E1002 mbTropical storm
Sep 7, 06:0019.6N 118.9E1002 mbTropical storm
Sep 7, 12:0019.6N 117.9E1002 mbTropical storm
Sep 7, 18:0019.8N 117.2E1002 mbTropical storm
Sep 8, 00:0020.2N 117.0E30 kt1000 mbTropical storm
Sep 8, 06:0020.0N 116.2E35 kt996 mbTropical storm
Sep 8, 12:0020.1N 115.5E45 kt996 mbTropical storm
Sep 8, 18:0020.4N 115.3E55 kt992 mbTropical storm
Sep 9, 00:0020.9N 115.2E60 kt992 mbTropical storm
Sep 9, 06:0021.5N 115.2E70 kt990 mbTropical storm
Sep 9, 12:0022.2N 114.9E70 kt985 mbTropical storm
Sep 9, 18:0022.7N 114.7E50 kt985 mbTropical storm
Sep 10, 00:0023.2N 114.3E30 kt992 mbTropical storm
Sep 10, 06:0023.6N 113.7E25 kt992 mbTropical storm
Sep 10, 12:0024.3N 113.2E998 mbMixed
Sep 10, 18:0024.6N 112.6E1002 mbMixed
Sep 11, 00:0025.6N 112.4E1004 mbMixed
Sep 11, 06:0027.0N 113.0E1004 mbTropical 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.