The 1971 season

Super Typhoon Wendy (1971)

Super Typhoon Wendy reached Category 5 in the Western Pacific between September 3, 1971 and September 15, 1971, with a lowest pressure of 915 mb, and made landfall.

Track and intensity

The whole track of Super Typhoon Wendy, colored by strength, with the other storms of the 1971 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, 1971 to September 15, 1971
Peak strength
Category 5, 140 kt (161 mph)
Lowest pressure
915 mb (27.02 inHg)
Landfall
Yes
Accumulated cyclone energy
35.8
Identifier
WP251971

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, 00:0022.3N 171.9ETropical storm
Sep 3, 06:0020.6N 169.9ETropical storm
Sep 3, 12:0019.3N 168.3ETropical storm
Sep 3, 18:0018.8N 167.4ETropical storm
Sep 4, 00:0019.2N 167.3E1008 mbTropical storm
Sep 4, 06:0019.7N 167.5E1006 mbTropical storm
Sep 4, 12:0019.7N 167.3E1004 mbMixed
Sep 4, 18:0019.6N 166.7E35 kt998 mbTropical storm
Sep 5, 00:0019.8N 166.5E40 kt990 mbTropical storm
Sep 5, 06:0020.0N 166.3E50 kt985 mbTropical storm
Sep 5, 12:0020.3N 166.0E60 kt975 mbTropical storm
Sep 5, 18:0020.7N 165.6E75 kt970 mbTropical storm
Sep 6, 00:0021.0N 165.2E90 kt965 mbTropical storm
Sep 6, 06:0021.3N 164.5E110 kt945 mbTropical storm
Sep 6, 12:0021.5N 163.8E125 kt935 mbTropical storm
Sep 6, 18:0021.6N 162.9E130 kt925 mbTropical storm
Sep 7, 00:0021.6N 162.1E130 kt925 mbTropical storm
Sep 7, 06:0021.6N 161.4E135 kt925 mbTropical storm
Sep 7, 12:0021.5N 160.6E140 kt915 mbTropical storm
Sep 7, 18:0021.3N 160.1E135 kt920 mbTropical storm
Sep 8, 00:0021.3N 159.8E130 kt925 mbTropical storm
Sep 8, 06:0021.5N 159.7E125 kt930 mbTropical storm
Sep 8, 12:0021.4N 159.5E115 kt940 mbTropical storm
Sep 8, 18:0021.8N 159.5E115 kt945 mbTropical storm
Sep 9, 00:0022.5N 159.4E105 kt955 mbTropical storm
Sep 9, 06:0023.3N 159.1E105 kt950 mbTropical storm
Sep 9, 12:0024.1N 158.4E110 kt945 mbTropical storm
Sep 9, 18:0024.9N 157.5E115 kt935 mbTropical storm
Sep 10, 00:0025.7N 156.5E115 kt930 mbTropical storm
Sep 10, 06:0026.5N 155.3E120 kt925 mbTropical storm
Sep 10, 12:0027.2N 153.9E115 kt925 mbTropical storm
Sep 10, 18:0027.7N 152.5E110 kt930 mbTropical storm
Sep 11, 00:0028.3N 151.1E100 kt935 mbTropical storm
Sep 11, 06:0028.9N 150.2E95 kt940 mbTropical storm
Sep 11, 12:0029.5N 149.4E90 kt945 mbTropical storm
Sep 11, 18:0030.4N 148.5E90 kt945 mbTropical storm
Sep 12, 00:0031.8N 147.6E85 kt950 mbTropical storm
Sep 12, 06:0033.5N 147.1E80 kt950 mbTropical storm
Sep 12, 12:0035.5N 147.2E75 kt950 mbTropical storm
Sep 12, 18:0038.0N 147.6E65 kt960 mbTropical storm
Sep 13, 00:0041.2N 148.8E965 mbTropical storm
Sep 13, 06:0043.7N 150.2E970 mbTropical storm
Sep 13, 12:0046.8N 153.0E975 mbTropical storm
Sep 13, 18:0048.9N 155.4E975 mbMixed
Sep 14, 00:0051.0N 157.0E980 mbExtratropical
Sep 14, 06:0052.4N 158.3E984 mbExtratropical
Sep 14, 12:0053.9N 160.0E988 mbExtratropical
Sep 14, 18:0055.2N 161.1E988 mbExtratropical
Sep 15, 00:0056.3N 161.5E988 mbExtratropical
Sep 15, 06:0056.5N 161.5E988 mbExtratropical
Sep 15, 12:0057.0N 162.0E988 mbExtratropical

Other Western Pacific storms of 1971

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.