The 1963 season

Super Typhoon Gloria (1963)

Super Typhoon Gloria reached Category 4 in the Western Pacific between September 3, 1963 and September 15, 1963, with a lowest pressure of 920 mb, and made landfall.

Track and intensity

The whole track of Super Typhoon Gloria, 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.

Open the live map with storms, cones and warnings

The storm

Basin
Western Pacific
Dates
September 3, 1963 to September 15, 1963
Peak strength
Category 4, 135 kt (155 mph)
Lowest pressure
920 mb (27.17 inHg)
Landfall
Yes
Accumulated cyclone energy
28.1
Fastest the center moved
19 kt (22 mph)
Identifier
WP141963

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 3, 18:0018.0N 145.0E1005 mbTropical storm
Sep 4, 00:0017.6N 144.0E1006 mbMixed
Sep 4, 06:0017.5N 143.2E1004 mbMixed
Sep 4, 12:0017.3N 142.5E1004 mbMixed
Sep 4, 18:0017.7N 141.7E1004 mbMixed
Sep 5, 00:0018.1N 140.8E1004 mbTropical storm
Sep 5, 06:0018.2N 140.1E1002 mbTropical storm
Sep 5, 12:0016.8N 139.7E30 kt1000 mbTropical storm
Sep 5, 18:0016.7N 138.8E35 kt1000 mbTropical storm
Sep 6, 00:0016.9N 138.1E40 kt996 mbTropical storm
Sep 6, 06:0017.1N 137.5E50 kt995 mbTropical storm
Sep 6, 12:0017.4N 137.1E70 kt990 mbTropical storm
Sep 6, 18:0017.8N 136.6E75 kt985 mbTropical storm
Sep 7, 00:0018.2N 135.9E85 kt980 mbTropical storm
Sep 7, 06:0018.7N 134.9E90 kt975 mbTropical storm
Sep 7, 12:0019.1N 133.8E95 kt975 mbTropical storm
Sep 7, 18:0019.4N 132.7E100 kt970 mbTropical storm
Sep 8, 00:0019.8N 131.7E100 kt956 mbTropical storm
Sep 8, 06:0020.2N 130.8E110 kt950 mbTropical storm
Sep 8, 12:0020.7N 129.7E120 kt942 mbTropical storm
Sep 8, 18:0021.1N 128.9E130 kt935 mbTropical storm
Sep 9, 00:0021.5N 128.2E135 kt930 mbTropical storm
Sep 9, 06:0021.9N 127.4E135 kt925 mbTropical storm
Sep 9, 12:0022.3N 126.7E135 kt925 mbTropical storm
Sep 9, 18:0022.6N 126.2E135 kt925 mbTropical storm
Sep 10, 00:0022.9N 125.7E135 kt925 mbTropical storm
Sep 10, 06:0023.5N 125.1E130 kt925 mbTropical storm
Sep 10, 12:0024.2N 124.4E120 kt920 mbTropical storm
Sep 10, 18:0024.7N 123.5E110 kt920 mbTropical storm
Sep 11, 00:0025.0N 122.6E110 kt930 mbTropical storm
Sep 11, 06:0025.4N 121.8E90 kt940 mbTropical storm
Sep 11, 12:0025.9N 121.0E85 kt945 mbTropical storm
Sep 11, 18:0026.4N 120.4E75 kt965 mbTropical storm
Sep 12, 00:0026.6N 119.7E60 kt976 mbTropical storm
Sep 12, 06:0026.2N 119.3E45 kt982 mbTropical storm
Sep 12, 12:0026.0N 119.9E40 kt988 mbTropical storm
Sep 12, 18:0026.3N 120.7E35 kt988 mbTropical storm
Sep 13, 00:0026.7N 121.5E35 kt990 mbTropical storm
Sep 13, 06:0027.1N 122.3E30 kt992 mbMixed
Sep 13, 12:0027.5N 123.0E30 kt996 mbMixed
Sep 13, 18:0025.3N 118.2E996 mbMixed
Sep 14, 00:0025.0N 118.0E998 mbMixed
Sep 14, 06:0024.7N 117.4E998 mbMixed
Sep 14, 12:0024.6N 116.5E1000 mbMixed
Sep 14, 18:0024.6N 115.7E1002 mbMixed
Sep 15, 00:0024.8N 115.7E1004 mbMixed
Sep 15, 06:0025.3N 115.7E1003 mbTropical storm
Sep 15, 12:0025.7N 115.3E1004 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.