The 1961 season

Super Typhoon Tilda (1961)

Super Typhoon Tilda reached Category 5 in the Western Pacific between September 25, 1961 and October 9, 1961, with a lowest pressure of 925 mb, and made landfall.

Radar

Reflectivity now over Super Typhoon Tilda. 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
September 25, 1961 to October 9, 1961
Peak strength
Category 5, 140 kt (161 mph)
Lowest pressure
925 mb (27.32 inHg)
Landfall
Yes
Accumulated cyclone energy
36.3
Identifier
WP221961

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 25, 12:0011.2N 161.3E1006 mbMixed
Sep 25, 18:0012.0N 159.3E1004 mbMixed
Sep 26, 00:0013.0N 157.5E1004 mbMixed
Sep 26, 06:0014.5N 154.8E1002 mbTropical storm
Sep 26, 12:0015.8N 152.0E1004 mbTropical storm
Sep 26, 18:0016.7N 149.5E1000 mbTropical storm
Sep 27, 00:0017.5N 147.5E1000 mbTropical storm
Sep 27, 06:0018.0N 145.4E50 kt998 mbTropical storm
Sep 27, 12:0018.6N 144.2E60 kt996 mbTropical storm
Sep 27, 18:0019.1N 142.9E75 kt994 mbTropical storm
Sep 28, 00:0019.4N 141.7E80 kt990 mbTropical storm
Sep 28, 06:0019.6N 140.7E90 kt990 mbTropical storm
Sep 28, 12:0019.6N 139.8E90 kt980 mbTropical storm
Sep 28, 18:0019.7N 139.1E100 kt970 mbTropical storm
Sep 29, 00:0019.8N 138.6E105 kt960 mbTropical storm
Sep 29, 06:0020.0N 138.3E115 kt950 mbTropical storm
Sep 29, 12:0020.4N 138.0E125 kt950 mbTropical storm
Sep 29, 18:0021.1N 137.7E130 kt950 mbTropical storm
Sep 30, 00:0022.0N 137.3E140 kt925 mbTropical storm
Sep 30, 06:0022.9N 136.8E140 kt925 mbTropical storm
Sep 30, 12:0023.7N 136.2E140 kt925 mbTropical storm
Sep 30, 18:0024.3N 135.4E140 kt925 mbTropical storm
Oct 1, 00:0024.6N 134.7E135 kt925 mbTropical storm
Oct 1, 06:0024.8N 133.8E130 kt925 mbTropical storm
Oct 1, 12:0025.1N 132.8E130 kt925 mbTropical storm
Oct 1, 18:0025.2N 131.7E130 kt925 mbTropical storm
Oct 2, 00:0025.4N 130.3E125 kt935 mbTropical storm
Oct 2, 06:0025.6N 129.1E125 kt935 mbTropical storm
Oct 2, 12:0025.8N 128.1E120 kt930 mbTropical storm
Oct 2, 18:0026.1N 126.9E120 kt930 mbTropical storm
Oct 3, 00:0026.5N 125.8E110 kt940 mbTropical storm
Oct 3, 06:0027.1N 124.7E105 kt940 mbTropical storm
Oct 3, 12:0027.8N 123.7E100 kt940 mbTropical storm
Oct 3, 18:0028.7N 122.6E100 kt940 mbTropical storm
Oct 4, 00:0029.3N 121.9E80 kt950 mbTropical storm
Oct 4, 06:0029.8N 121.5E60 kt980 mbTropical storm
Oct 4, 12:0030.3N 121.1E40 kt990 mbTropical storm
Oct 4, 18:0030.9N 120.9E30 kt995 mbTropical storm
Oct 5, 00:0031.6N 121.2E25 kt998 mbTropical storm
Oct 5, 06:0032.3N 122.2E25 kt998 mbMixed
Oct 5, 12:0033.1N 123.9E998 mbExtratropical
Oct 5, 18:0034.5N 127.0E1000 mbExtratropical
Oct 6, 00:0037.2N 132.6E1002 mbExtratropical
Oct 6, 06:0039.5N 136.8E994 mbExtratropical
Oct 6, 12:0042.0N 140.2E988 mbExtratropical
Oct 6, 18:0044.5N 142.5E988 mbExtratropical
Oct 7, 00:0047.0N 144.0E986 mbExtratropical
Oct 7, 06:0049.0N 144.0E984 mbExtratropical
Oct 7, 12:0051.0N 144.1E984 mbExtratropical
Oct 7, 18:0052.0N 144.5E982 mbExtratropical
Oct 8, 00:0053.0N 145.0E982 mbExtratropical
Oct 8, 06:0054.0N 146.0E982 mbExtratropical
Oct 8, 12:0054.8N 148.0E986 mbExtratropical
Oct 8, 18:0055.5N 150.5E994 mbExtratropical
Oct 9, 00:0056.0N 153.0E1000 mbExtratropical
Oct 9, 06:0056.4N 154.3E1004 mbExtratropical
Oct 9, 12:0056.8N 155.5E1006 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.