The 1963 season

Typhoon Carmen (1963)

Typhoon Carmen reached Category 4 in the Western Pacific between August 7, 1963 and August 18, 1963, with a lowest pressure of 930 mb, and made landfall.

Track and intensity

The whole track of Typhoon Carmen, colored by strength, with the other storms of the 1963 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
August 7, 1963 to August 18, 1963
Peak strength
Category 4, 125 kt (144 mph)
Lowest pressure
930 mb (27.46 inHg)
Landfall
Yes
Accumulated cyclone energy
22.6
Identifier
WP101963

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
Aug 7, 06:009.1N 145.6ETropical storm
Aug 7, 12:008.9N 145.5E20 ktTropical storm
Aug 7, 18:009.0N 145.0E25 ktMixed
Aug 8, 00:008.9N 144.4E30 kt1003 mbTropical storm
Aug 8, 06:008.8N 143.7E30 kt1004 mbTropical storm
Aug 8, 12:008.8N 142.8E30 kt1006 mbTropical storm
Aug 8, 18:008.8N 141.9E30 kt1006 mbTropical storm
Aug 9, 00:008.9N 140.9E30 kt1006 mbTropical storm
Aug 9, 06:009.1N 139.8E30 kt1004 mbTropical storm
Aug 9, 12:009.2N 138.6E30 kt1006 mbTropical storm
Aug 9, 18:009.2N 137.4E35 kt1004 mbTropical storm
Aug 10, 00:009.1N 136.2E40 kt1004 mbTropical storm
Aug 10, 06:009.1N 135.1E50 kt1000 mbTropical storm
Aug 10, 12:009.2N 134.1E60 kt995 mbTropical storm
Aug 10, 18:009.4N 133.1E75 kt990 mbTropical storm
Aug 11, 00:009.8N 132.1E85 kt980 mbTropical storm
Aug 11, 06:0010.2N 130.9E90 kt980 mbTropical storm
Aug 11, 12:0010.8N 129.7E95 kt980 mbTropical storm
Aug 11, 18:0011.3N 128.6E100 kt980 mbTropical storm
Aug 12, 00:0011.7N 127.5E100 kt960 mbTropical storm
Aug 12, 06:0012.0N 126.7E110 kt930 mbTropical storm
Aug 12, 12:0012.6N 125.8E120 kt930 mbTropical storm
Aug 12, 18:0013.1N 125.0E125 kt960 mbTropical storm
Aug 13, 00:0013.8N 124.2E110 kt980 mbTropical storm
Aug 13, 06:0014.4N 123.6E110 kt980 mbTropical storm
Aug 13, 12:0014.9N 122.9E110 kt980 mbTropical storm
Aug 13, 18:0015.6N 122.1E100 kt980 mbTropical storm
Aug 14, 00:0016.2N 121.0E85 kt980 mbTropical storm
Aug 14, 06:0016.7N 119.7E70 kt970 mbTropical storm
Aug 14, 12:0017.3N 118.6E65 kt970 mbTropical storm
Aug 14, 18:0017.8N 117.5E75 kt970 mbTropical storm
Aug 15, 00:0018.3N 116.2E85 kt980 mbTropical storm
Aug 15, 06:0018.4N 114.9E95 kt980 mbTropical storm
Aug 15, 12:0018.6N 113.5E100 kt980 mbTropical storm
Aug 15, 18:0019.0N 112.3E90 kt980 mbTropical storm
Aug 16, 00:0019.5N 111.3E80 kt985 mbTropical storm
Aug 16, 06:0020.1N 110.5E65 kt988 mbTropical storm
Aug 16, 12:0020.5N 109.4E60 kt990 mbTropical storm
Aug 16, 18:0021.0N 108.3E55 kt990 mbTropical storm
Aug 17, 00:0021.4N 107.3E45 kt990 mbTropical storm
Aug 17, 06:0020.8N 106.0E40 kt994 mbTropical storm
Aug 17, 12:0021.0N 105.5E35 kt996 mbTropical storm
Aug 17, 18:0022.0N 104.0E25 kt996 mbTropical storm
Aug 18, 00:0021.9N 103.2E998 mbMixed
Aug 18, 06:0021.5N 102.3E1000 mbTropical storm
Aug 18, 12:0021.4N 101.4E1002 mbTropical storm

Other Western Pacific storms of 1963

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.