The 1963 season

Tropical Storm Irma (1963)

Tropical Storm Irma peaked at 40 kt in the Western Pacific between September 16, 1963 and September 22, 1963, with a lowest pressure of 1002 mb, and made landfall.

Track and intensity

The whole track of Tropical Storm Irma, 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 16, 1963 to September 22, 1963
Peak strength
Tropical Storm, 40 kt (46 mph)
Lowest pressure
1002 mb (29.59 inHg)
Landfall
Yes
Accumulated cyclone energy
0.6
Identifier
WP161963

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 16, 12:009.7N 153.3E1010 mbTropical storm
Sep 16, 18:0011.8N 153.2E1007 mbMixed
Sep 17, 00:0012.1N 151.9E1008 mbTropical storm
Sep 17, 06:0012.5N 150.7E35 kt1004 mbTropical storm
Sep 17, 12:0013.2N 149.5E40 kt1004 mbTropical storm
Sep 17, 18:0013.7N 148.3E40 kt1002 mbTropical storm
Sep 18, 00:0014.1N 147.0E35 kt1002 mbTropical storm
Sep 18, 06:0014.5N 145.6E30 kt1004 mbTropical storm
Sep 18, 12:0014.8N 143.9E30 kt1006 mbTropical storm
Sep 18, 18:0015.0N 142.1E30 kt1006 mbTropical storm
Sep 19, 00:0015.0N 140.2E30 kt1006 mbTropical storm
Sep 19, 06:0015.0N 138.3E25 kt1006 mbTropical storm
Sep 19, 12:0014.5N 136.9E1006 mbMixed
Sep 19, 18:0014.2N 135.4E1006 mbMixed
Sep 20, 00:0014.0N 134.1E1006 mbMixed
Sep 20, 06:0014.0N 132.7E1006 mbMixed
Sep 20, 12:0014.0N 131.3E1006 mbMixed
Sep 20, 18:0013.3N 129.9E1006 mbMixed
Sep 21, 00:0012.7N 129.4E1006 mbMixed
Sep 21, 06:0012.5N 128.8E1006 mbMixed
Sep 21, 12:0012.2N 127.9E1008 mbTropical storm
Sep 21, 18:0012.2N 126.2E1008 mbTropical storm
Sep 22, 00:0011.9N 125.0E1008 mbTropical storm
Sep 22, 06:0011.3N 123.6E1008 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.