Super Typhoon Pamela (1961)

Super Typhoon Pamela reached Category 5 in the Western Pacific between September 5, 1961 and September 13, 1961, with a lowest pressure of 910 mb, and made landfall.

Track and intensity

The whole track of Super Typhoon Pamela, 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 5, 1961 to September 13, 1961
Peak strength: Category 5, 155 kt (178 mph)
Lowest pressure: 910 mb (26.87 inHg)
Landfall: Yes
Accumulated cyclone energy: 13.8
Identifier: WP201961

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)	Position	Wind	Pressure	Status
Sep 5, 00:00	18.0N 155.0E		1008 mb	Mixed
Sep 5, 06:00	17.5N 153.5E		1006 mb	Mixed
Sep 5, 12:00	17.1N 151.5E		1008 mb	Mixed
Sep 5, 18:00	16.3N 149.4E		1006 mb	Mixed
Sep 6, 00:00	16.0N 147.2E		1007 mb	Mixed
Sep 6, 06:00	15.3N 145.2E		1005 mb	Mixed
Sep 6, 12:00	15.9N 143.0E		1006 mb	Mixed
Sep 6, 18:00	16.8N 141.6E		1004 mb	Mixed
Sep 7, 00:00	18.2N 140.9E		1006 mb	Mixed
Sep 7, 06:00	18.6N 139.6E		1005 mb	Mixed
Sep 7, 12:00	18.8N 138.6E		1005 mb	Mixed
Sep 7, 18:00	18.9N 137.6E		1004 mb	Mixed
Sep 8, 00:00	19.3N 137.2E		1000 mb	Mixed
Sep 8, 06:00	19.6N 136.6E		1003 mb	Mixed
Sep 8, 12:00	19.6N 135.7E	30 kt	1002 mb	Mixed
Sep 8, 18:00	20.1N 135.4E	35 kt	1002 mb	Tropical storm
Sep 9, 00:00	20.6N 135.2E	45 kt	1000 mb	Tropical storm
Sep 9, 06:00	21.0N 135.0E	55 kt	995 mb	Tropical storm
Sep 9, 12:00	21.3N 134.7E	65 kt	990 mb	Tropical storm
Sep 9, 18:00	21.7N 134.3E	75 kt	980 mb	Tropical storm
Sep 10, 00:00	22.5N 133.3E	85 kt	970 mb	Tropical storm
Sep 10, 06:00	23.3N 131.9E	95 kt	965 mb	Tropical storm
Sep 10, 12:00	23.7N 130.4E	100 kt	955 mb	Tropical storm
Sep 10, 18:00	23.8N 128.9E	110 kt	945 mb	Tropical storm
Sep 11, 00:00	23.7N 127.4E	120 kt	930 mb	Tropical storm
Sep 11, 06:00	23.6N 125.9E	140 kt	915 mb	Tropical storm
Sep 11, 12:00	23.7N 124.1E	155 kt	910 mb	Tropical storm
Sep 11, 18:00	24.1N 122.2E	125 kt	910 mb	Tropical storm
Sep 12, 00:00	24.4N 120.3E	85 kt	930 mb	Tropical storm
Sep 12, 06:00	24.6N 119.0E	55 kt	940 mb	Tropical storm
Sep 12, 12:00	25.3N 117.5E	30 kt	980 mb	Mixed
Sep 12, 18:00	26.1N 116.1E	25 kt	995 mb	Mixed
Sep 13, 00:00	26.6N 115.2E		996 mb	Mixed
Sep 13, 06:00	27.0N 115.6E		1000 mb	Mixed
Sep 13, 12:00	27.3N 115.7E		1000 mb	Mixed
Sep 13, 18:00	27.7N 116.2E		1002 mb	Mixed

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.