The 1961 season

Super Typhoon Tess (1961)

Super Typhoon Tess reached Category 4 in the Western Pacific between March 22, 1961 and April 2, 1961, with a lowest pressure of 940 mb.

Radar

Reflectivity now over Super Typhoon Tess. 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
March 22, 1961 to April 2, 1961
Peak strength
Category 4, 130 kt (150 mph)
Lowest pressure
940 mb (27.76 inHg)
Landfall
No; closest approach 1041 km (647 mi)
Accumulated cyclone energy
27.1
Identifier
WP031961

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
Mar 22, 06:007.8N 148.0E1004 mbMixed
Mar 22, 12:007.6N 147.1E1006 mbMixed
Mar 22, 18:007.5N 146.2E1006 mbMixed
Mar 23, 00:007.8N 145.5E1006 mbMixed
Mar 23, 06:008.2N 145.4E1004 mbMixed
Mar 23, 12:008.6N 145.3E1006 mbTropical storm
Mar 23, 18:009.0N 144.9E1004 mbTropical storm
Mar 24, 00:008.6N 144.3E35 kt1005 mbTropical storm
Mar 24, 06:008.9N 143.6E40 kt1003 mbTropical storm
Mar 24, 12:009.1N 142.6E45 kt1003 mbTropical storm
Mar 24, 18:009.1N 141.3E55 kt1002 mbTropical storm
Mar 25, 00:009.0N 140.1E65 kt990 mbTropical storm
Mar 25, 06:009.0N 139.1E70 kt990 mbTropical storm
Mar 25, 12:009.0N 138.1E75 kt985 mbTropical storm
Mar 25, 18:009.2N 137.2E75 kt980 mbTropical storm
Mar 26, 00:009.7N 136.5E80 kt975 mbTropical storm
Mar 26, 06:0010.4N 135.9E80 kt975 mbTropical storm
Mar 26, 12:0011.0N 135.7E90 kt975 mbTropical storm
Mar 26, 18:0011.5N 135.5E100 kt975 mbTropical storm
Mar 27, 00:0012.0N 135.4E110 kt960 mbTropical storm
Mar 27, 06:0012.5N 135.4E120 kt950 mbTropical storm
Mar 27, 12:0012.9N 135.3E120 kt940 mbTropical storm
Mar 27, 18:0013.3N 135.4E120 kt940 mbTropical storm
Mar 28, 00:0013.7N 135.5E125 kt950 mbTropical storm
Mar 28, 06:0014.1N 135.5E130 kt945 mbTropical storm
Mar 28, 12:0014.5N 135.4E130 kt940 mbTropical storm
Mar 28, 18:0014.8N 135.2E130 kt940 mbTropical storm
Mar 29, 00:0015.2N 135.0E130 kt940 mbTropical storm
Mar 29, 06:0015.7N 134.7E130 kt945 mbTropical storm
Mar 29, 12:0016.3N 134.5E125 kt950 mbTropical storm
Mar 29, 18:0017.0N 134.5E120 kt955 mbTropical storm
Mar 30, 00:0017.7N 134.6E115 kt965 mbTropical storm
Mar 30, 06:0018.5N 134.4E90 kt980 mbTropical storm
Mar 30, 12:0019.5N 134.1E55 kt990 mbTropical storm
Mar 30, 18:0020.8N 134.6E40 kt1000 mbTropical storm
Mar 31, 00:0022.1N 136.4E30 kt1005 mbTropical storm
Mar 31, 06:0023.0N 138.8E30 kt1010 mbMixed
Mar 31, 12:0023.4N 139.8E1014 mbExtratropical
Mar 31, 18:0023.8N 141.3E1012 mbExtratropical
Apr 1, 00:0024.0N 143.0E1014 mbExtratropical
Apr 1, 06:0024.5N 144.7E1012 mbExtratropical
Apr 1, 12:0025.7N 146.9E1012 mbExtratropical
Apr 1, 18:0027.0N 149.2E1012 mbExtratropical
Apr 2, 00:0029.0N 153.0E1014 mbExtratropical
Apr 2, 06:0031.2N 157.5E1010 mbExtratropical
Apr 2, 12:0031.7N 160.3E1010 mbExtratropical

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.