The 1969 season

Super Typhoon Elsie (1969)

Super Typhoon Elsie reached Category 5 in the Western Pacific between September 16, 1969 and October 4, 1969, with a lowest pressure of 895 mb, and made landfall.

Radar

Reflectivity now over Super Typhoon Elsie. Open it to see storms, cones and warnings on the map.

Open the live radar with storms, cones and warnings

Radar mosaic and map layers from NOAA MRMS. Boundaries from the Iowa Environmental Mesonet.

The storm

Basin
Western Pacific
Dates
September 16, 1969 to October 4, 1969
Peak strength
Category 5, 150 kt (173 mph)
Lowest pressure
895 mb (26.43 inHg)
Landfall
Yes
Accumulated cyclone energy
35.9
Identifier
WP111969

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, 00:0015.0N 165.0E1010 mbMixed
Sep 16, 06:0015.2N 165.0E1008 mbMixed
Sep 16, 12:0015.4N 165.0E1008 mbMixed
Sep 16, 18:0015.7N 165.0E1008 mbMixed
Sep 17, 00:0016.0N 165.0E1008 mbMixed
Sep 17, 06:0016.3N 164.9E1008 mbMixed
Sep 17, 12:0016.6N 164.7E1008 mbMixed
Sep 17, 18:0016.8N 164.5E1006 mbMixed
Sep 18, 00:0017.1N 164.3E1004 mbMixed
Sep 18, 06:0017.3N 164.4E1000 mbMixed
Sep 18, 12:0017.5N 164.4E1000 mbMixed
Sep 18, 18:0017.6N 164.4E1000 mbTropical storm
Sep 19, 00:0017.7N 164.4E1000 mbTropical storm
Sep 19, 06:0017.9N 164.4E25 kt1000 mbTropical storm
Sep 19, 12:0018.2N 164.2E30 kt995 mbTropical storm
Sep 19, 18:0017.7N 163.6E30 kt990 mbTropical storm
Sep 20, 00:0017.4N 162.7E35 kt985 mbTropical storm
Sep 20, 06:0017.3N 161.5E50 kt980 mbTropical storm
Sep 20, 12:0016.8N 160.4E55 kt975 mbTropical storm
Sep 20, 18:0016.7N 159.0E60 kt975 mbTropical storm
Sep 21, 00:0016.6N 157.6E65 kt970 mbTropical storm
Sep 21, 06:0016.3N 156.3E80 kt960 mbTropical storm
Sep 21, 12:0016.3N 154.9E90 kt955 mbTropical storm
Sep 21, 18:0016.5N 153.3E95 kt950 mbTropical storm
Sep 22, 00:0016.5N 151.7E100 kt940 mbTropical storm
Sep 22, 06:0016.7N 150.0E105 kt930 mbTropical storm
Sep 22, 12:0016.9N 148.4E115 kt920 mbTropical storm
Sep 22, 18:0017.3N 146.7E125 kt910 mbTropical storm
Sep 23, 00:0018.0N 145.1E130 kt900 mbTropical storm
Sep 23, 06:0018.3N 143.2E135 kt895 mbTropical storm
Sep 23, 12:0018.7N 141.5E140 kt895 mbTropical storm
Sep 23, 18:0019.3N 139.9E140 kt895 mbTropical storm
Sep 24, 00:0019.8N 138.2E145 kt895 mbTropical storm
Sep 24, 06:0020.4N 136.7E150 kt895 mbTropical storm
Sep 24, 12:0021.1N 135.1E145 kt905 mbTropical storm
Sep 24, 18:0021.7N 133.6E135 kt910 mbTropical storm
Sep 25, 00:0022.1N 132.2E130 kt920 mbTropical storm
Sep 25, 06:0022.6N 130.6E125 kt920 mbTropical storm
Sep 25, 12:0022.8N 129.0E120 kt925 mbTropical storm
Sep 25, 18:0023.2N 127.6E115 kt925 mbTropical storm
Sep 26, 00:0023.5N 126.2E105 kt925 mbTropical storm
Sep 26, 06:0023.8N 124.8E100 kt925 mbTropical storm
Sep 26, 12:0024.1N 123.2E95 kt925 mbTropical storm
Sep 26, 18:0024.3N 121.5E90 kt945 mbTropical storm
Sep 27, 00:0024.3N 120.3E75 kt960 mbTropical storm
Sep 27, 06:0024.6N 119.1E65 kt965 mbTropical storm
Sep 27, 12:0025.2N 118.1E40 kt980 mbTropical storm
Sep 27, 18:0025.0N 118.0E40 kt994 mbMixed
Sep 28, 00:0025.3N 116.0E35 kt1000 mbMixed
Sep 28, 06:0025.8N 117.0E35 kt1004 mbMixed
Sep 28, 12:0028.0N 116.0E30 kt1006 mbMixed
Sep 28, 18:0030.5N 116.8E1008 mbMixed
Sep 29, 00:0031.4N 117.7E1010 mbExtratropical
Sep 29, 06:0032.6N 118.8E1008 mbExtratropical
Sep 29, 12:0033.4N 120.0E1008 mbExtratropical
Sep 29, 18:0033.8N 122.0E1008 mbExtratropical
Sep 30, 00:0033.5N 124.1E1008 mbExtratropical
Sep 30, 06:0033.3N 126.8E1004 mbExtratropical
Sep 30, 12:0033.6N 128.8E1004 mbExtratropical
Sep 30, 18:0035.5N 132.4E1002 mbExtratropical
Oct 1, 00:0037.8N 134.3E1002 mbExtratropical
Oct 1, 06:0040.0N 136.3E998 mbExtratropical
Oct 1, 12:0043.0N 138.8E994 mbExtratropical
Oct 1, 18:0046.0N 141.0E988 mbExtratropical
Oct 2, 00:0047.9N 142.0E980 mbExtratropical
Oct 2, 06:0049.0N 145.0E984 mbExtratropical
Oct 2, 12:0049.5N 148.0E984 mbExtratropical
Oct 2, 18:0050.0N 152.0E986 mbExtratropical
Oct 3, 00:0050.9N 156.0E986 mbExtratropical
Oct 3, 06:0051.2N 158.5E984 mbExtratropical
Oct 3, 12:0051.7N 161.6E982 mbExtratropical
Oct 3, 18:0051.8N 164.5E982 mbExtratropical
Oct 4, 00:0052.0N 169.0E982 mbExtratropical
Oct 4, 06:0051.0N 174.1E984 mbExtratropical

Other Western Pacific storms of 1969

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.