The 1961 season

Tropical Storm Viola (1961)

Tropical Storm Viola peaked at 50 kt in the Western Pacific between April 9, 1961 and April 12, 1961.

Track and intensity

The whole track of Tropical Storm Viola, 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
April 9, 1961 to April 12, 1961
Peak strength
Tropical Storm, 50 kt (58 mph)
Landfall
No; closest approach 46 km (29 mi)
Accumulated cyclone energy
0.7
Identifier
WP041961

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
Apr 9, 12:009.6N 110.4ETropical storm
Apr 9, 18:009.3N 109.6E50 ktTropical storm
Apr 10, 00:009.7N 108.3E50 ktTropical storm
Apr 10, 06:009.9N 107.5E40 ktTropical storm
Apr 10, 12:009.9N 106.8E25 ktTropical storm
Apr 10, 18:008.3N 106.2ETropical storm
Apr 11, 00:008.1N 105.6ETropical storm
Apr 11, 06:008.2N 105.3ETropical storm
Apr 11, 12:008.3N 104.8ETropical storm
Apr 11, 18:008.5N 104.1ETropical storm
Apr 12, 00:008.6N 103.2ETropical 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.