1952 Western Pacific typhoon season
Typhoon Della 1952
Typhoon Della affected the Philippines in November 1952 before moving north toward Taiwan. Its track bends from a fast westward approach into a northwestern and then northern course, with its strongest archived winds near the northern Philippines.
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173 mph
Nov 24, 1952 during the tropical stage
Full archive record, including non-tropical stages if present
Along the recorded center positions
STORM HISTORY
Westward toward the Philippines
The first archived position lies near 6.7°N, 144.4°E on 20 November. Della moved west across the Philippine Sea, then turned northwest on its approach to the islands. By 24 November, the archive records sustained winds of 100 kt east of Luzon.
Della crossed the Philippines during this strengthening phase. At 00:00 UTC on 25 November, a sampled center-over-land position carries winds of 100 kt. Its first Category 5 observation follows nine hours later, with peak one-minute winds of 150 kt at 12:00 UTC.
North toward Taiwan
Della continued northwest and then north through the waters between Luzon and Taiwan. Its winds declined as it moved into the Taiwan Strait region. Tropical-stage observations end on the morning of 27 November, and the full archived track continues until 18:00 UTC that day.
Further reading
QUICK ANSWERS
Della in brief
What was Typhoon Della's highest wind speed?
173 mph, the highest one-minute sustained wind in its tropical stage, recorded on Nov 25, 1952, 12:00 PM UTC.
What category was Typhoon Della?
Category 5 at its peak on the Saffir–Simpson one-minute wind scale, first reaching Category 5 on Nov 25, 1952, 09:00 AM UTC. Other agencies classify storms differently.
What was Typhoon Della's lowest pressure?
980 mb, the minimum central pressure recorded during its tropical stage, on Nov 24, 1952, 12:00 PM UTC.
When did Typhoon Della occur?
The archived track runs from Nov 20, 1952, 12:00 PM UTC to Nov 27, 1952, 06:00 PM UTC, with the tropical stage from Nov 21, 1952, 12:00 AM UTC to Nov 27, 1952, 09:00 AM UTC.
Where did Typhoon Della form?
In the Western Pacific basin, in the 1952 season. Its first archived position is 6.7°N, 144.4°E on Nov 20, 1952, 12:00 PM UTC.
Did Typhoon Della make landfall?
The archive places its center over land at 1 recorded position; the strongest is 115 mph on Nov 25, 1952, 12:00 AM UTC. Positions are six-hourly, so this is not a landfall chronology.
METHODOLOGY
Data sources and limitations
The map and summary are generated from NOAA's IBTrACS v04r01 archive. Wind and category use US-agency records; minimum pressure is calculated during the tropical stage, with the archive's pressure source retained. Category 5 refers to the Saffir–Simpson one-minute wind scale; local agencies may use different classifications. Coastlines use Natural Earth's 1:10m land data.
Track distance adds great-circle distances between consecutive observations, excluding gaps over 12 hours. This track has no gaps over 12 hours. The line shows the storm's center, not its size, rainfall or flood extent. Converted wind speeds are rounded to the nearest whole unit.
Archive retrieved
NOAA IBTrACS archive and Field documentation
Sources & methodology