The 1964 season

Super Typhoon Helen (1964)

Super Typhoon Helen reached Category 4 in the Western Pacific between July 27, 1964 and August 5, 1964, with a lowest pressure of 930 mb, and made landfall.

Track and intensity

The whole track of Super Typhoon Helen, colored by strength, with the other storms of the 1964 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
July 27, 1964 to August 5, 1964
Peak strength
Category 4, 130 kt (150 mph)
Lowest pressure
930 mb (27.46 inHg)
Landfall
Yes
Accumulated cyclone energy
24.1
Identifier
WP111964

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
Jul 27, 00:0016.9N 150.0E1006 mbMixed
Jul 27, 06:0017.6N 149.9E1006 mbMixed
Jul 27, 12:0018.5N 149.7E1006 mbMixed
Jul 27, 18:0019.5N 149.5E35 kt1004 mbTropical storm
Jul 28, 00:0020.0N 149.1E40 kt1004 mbTropical storm
Jul 28, 06:0020.5N 148.6E45 kt1004 mbTropical storm
Jul 28, 12:0020.9N 147.9E50 kt1004 mbTropical storm
Jul 28, 18:0021.3N 147.0E55 kt995 mbTropical storm
Jul 29, 00:0022.1N 146.2E60 kt985 mbTropical storm
Jul 29, 06:0022.4N 145.2E80 kt970 mbTropical storm
Jul 29, 12:0022.5N 144.1E100 kt960 mbTropical storm
Jul 29, 18:0022.9N 143.3E120 kt950 mbTropical storm
Jul 30, 00:0023.3N 142.6E130 kt945 mbTropical storm
Jul 30, 06:0023.9N 141.7E130 kt930 mbTropical storm
Jul 30, 12:0024.7N 140.7E130 kt940 mbTropical storm
Jul 30, 18:0025.3N 139.5E130 kt950 mbTropical storm
Jul 31, 00:0026.3N 138.2E125 kt955 mbTropical storm
Jul 31, 06:0027.2N 136.9E120 kt955 mbTropical storm
Jul 31, 12:0027.8N 135.3E120 kt955 mbTropical storm
Jul 31, 18:0028.4N 133.7E120 kt960 mbTropical storm
Aug 1, 00:0029.3N 132.3E110 kt965 mbTropical storm
Aug 1, 06:0029.8N 131.0E100 kt965 mbTropical storm
Aug 1, 12:0030.8N 129.7E95 kt965 mbTropical storm
Aug 1, 18:0031.6N 128.5E90 kt965 mbTropical storm
Aug 2, 00:0032.3N 127.7E85 kt965 mbTropical storm
Aug 2, 06:0033.3N 126.8E80 kt970 mbTropical storm
Aug 2, 12:0034.3N 126.0E70 kt970 mbTropical storm
Aug 2, 18:0035.2N 125.1E65 kt975 mbTropical storm
Aug 3, 00:0036.4N 123.9E60 kt980 mbTropical storm
Aug 3, 06:0037.7N 123.0E50 kt990 mbTropical storm
Aug 3, 12:0039.2N 122.3E40 kt995 mbTropical storm
Aug 3, 18:0039.7N 121.9E1000 mbTropical storm
Aug 4, 00:0042.0N 122.4E1000 mbTropical storm
Aug 4, 06:0043.9N 123.4E1000 mbMixed
Aug 4, 12:0045.6N 124.9E998 mbMixed
Aug 4, 18:0046.7N 127.5E996 mbMixed
Aug 5, 00:0047.7N 132.3E994 mbExtratropical
Aug 5, 06:0047.4N 137.8E994 mbExtratropical
Aug 5, 12:0046.7N 140.4E998 mbExtratropical
Aug 5, 18:0046.8N 145.0E996 mbExtratropical

Other Western Pacific storms of 1964

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.