1964 Western Pacific typhoon season
Typhoon Louise:Marge 1964
Typhoon Louise devastated parts of Palau and the central Philippines in November 1964. The combined Louise:Marge archive record also follows a later storm track near Luzon, reflecting a historical disagreement over whether these were one cyclone or two.
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190 mph
Nov 18, 1964 during the tropical stage
Full archive record, including non-tropical stages if present
Along the recorded center positions
STORM HISTORY
From Palau to the Philippines
Louise developed near Yap and strengthened as it traveled west. It passed near Angaur in southern Palau on 16 November before reaching Category 5 intensity at an unusually low latitude. The archive records peak one-minute winds of 165 kt on 18 November.
The typhoon made landfall in Surigao del Sur on 18 November and crossed the Philippines. Angaur and Peleliu had already suffered widespread destruction; in Peleliu, a reported 97 percent of structures were destroyed. One person died in Palau.
Destruction around Surigao
Louise affected 13 Philippine provinces, with the worst damage concentrated in Surigao del Norte. Reports placed the Philippine death toll between 576 and 631, and about 300,000 people were left homeless. Surigao City was among the hardest-hit communities.
Why the record carries two names
The Joint Typhoon Warning Center and Japan Meteorological Agency treated Louise and Marge as separate cyclones. China's meteorological agency treated them as one system. Their combined archive track continues northwest and then curves across Luzon and the eastern South China Sea, ending on 26 November. The Louise:Marge name preserves that shared record rather than resolving the historical classification.
Further reading
QUICK ANSWERS
Louise:Marge in brief
What was Typhoon Louise:Marge's highest wind speed?
190 mph, the highest one-minute sustained wind in its tropical stage, recorded on Nov 18, 1964, 06:00 AM UTC.
What category was Typhoon Louise:Marge?
Category 5 at its peak on the Saffir–Simpson one-minute wind scale, first reaching Category 5 on Nov 17, 1964, 03:00 PM UTC. Other agencies classify storms differently.
What was Typhoon Louise:Marge's lowest pressure?
915 mb, the minimum central pressure recorded during its tropical stage, on Nov 18, 1964, 06:00 AM UTC.
When did Typhoon Louise:Marge occur?
The archived track runs from Nov 14, 1964, 12:00 AM UTC to Nov 26, 1964, 12:00 AM UTC, with the tropical stage from Nov 15, 1964, 06:00 AM UTC to Nov 26, 1964, 12:00 AM UTC.
Where did Typhoon Louise:Marge form?
In the Western Pacific basin, in the 1964 season. Its first archived position is 7.8°N, 141°E on Nov 14, 1964, 12:00 AM UTC.
Did Typhoon Louise:Marge make landfall?
The archive places its center over land at 3 recorded positions; the strongest is 115 mph on Nov 19, 1964, 12:00 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