1969 Western Pacific typhoon season
Typhoon Elsie 1969
Typhoon Elsie crossed northern Taiwan and reached eastern China in September 1969. It had weakened from an exceptionally intense offshore peak, but its passage still caused widespread casualties.
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173 mph
Sep 23, 1969 during the tropical stage
Full archive record, including non-tropical stages if present
Along the recorded center positions
STORM HISTORY
Strengthening on a westward course
Elsie developed over the open western Pacific and tracked almost due west. It became a tropical storm on 20 September and a typhoon the following day. The archive records a minimum central pressure of 895 hPa on 23 September and peak one-minute winds of 150 kt on 24 September.
The typhoon steadily weakened after its peak while continuing toward Taiwan. It struck the island's northern part on 26 September, then crossed to eastern China the next day.
Landfalls in Taiwan and China
Elsie was reported to have killed 102 people, with another 24 missing and 227 injured. After reaching China, the storm drifted north and lost its organized tropical circulation. The archived record includes later positions beyond the September landfalls, continuing into early October.
Further reading
QUICK ANSWERS
Elsie in brief
What was Typhoon Elsie's highest wind speed?
173 mph, the highest one-minute sustained wind in its tropical stage, recorded on Sep 24, 1969, 06:00 AM UTC.
What category was Typhoon Elsie?
Category 5 at its peak on the Saffir–Simpson one-minute wind scale, first reaching Category 5 on Sep 23, 1969, 09:00 AM UTC. Other agencies classify storms differently.
What was Typhoon Elsie's lowest pressure?
895 mb, the minimum central pressure recorded during its tropical stage, on Sep 23, 1969, 06:00 AM UTC.
When did Typhoon Elsie occur?
The archived track runs from Sep 16, 1969, 12:00 AM UTC to Oct 4, 1969, 06:00 AM UTC, with the tropical stage from Sep 18, 1969, 06:00 PM UTC to Sep 27, 1969, 03:00 PM UTC.
Where did Typhoon Elsie form?
In the Western Pacific basin, in the 1969 season. Its first archived position is 15°N, 165°E on Sep 16, 1969, 12:00 AM UTC.
Did Typhoon Elsie make landfall?
The archive places its center over land at 2 recorded positions; the strongest is 104 mph on Sep 26, 1969, 06:00 PM 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