1952 Western Pacific typhoon season
Typhoon Olive 1952
Typhoon Olive devastated Wake Island in September 1952, forcing hundreds of people into wartime bunkers and leaving most buildings in ruins. It reached its greatest strength after passing the atoll, then curved northeast and weakened over the Pacific.
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184 mph
Sep 15, 1952 during the tropical stage
Full archive record, including non-tropical stages if present
Along the recorded center positions
STORM HISTORY
A typhoon approaching Wake Island
Forecasters tracked Olive's precursor as disturbed weather in the central Pacific before recognizing a tropical storm on 15 September. Moving west-northwest, Olive turned toward Wake Island and strengthened into a typhoon. Aircraft reported a central pressure of 945 hPa near the time of its passage, while observers on Wake measured sustained winds above 120 mph.
Olive continued strengthening beyond Wake. In the current archive, it first reached Category 5 on 17 September at 00:00 UTC, with peak one-minute sustained winds of 160 kt eighteen hours later. The storm's highest winds occurred over the ocean, after the destructive encounter with the island.
Sheltering in wartime bunkers
About 750 people took shelter in World War II bunkers as Olive struck Wake. Wind and flooding destroyed an estimated 85 percent of the island's structures, including homes, the hotel, chapel and many quonset huts. The storm also wrecked the Coast Guard's LORAN navigation station.
Four people suffered injuries, but no one died on the island. None of Pan American World Airways' 230 employees sustained injuries. The survival of those sheltering on Wake contrasted with the scale of destruction around them.
Recovery after the storm
Workers restored water and power on 18 September, and rebuilding continued into 1953. Repairs cost about US$1.6 million in 1952 dollars. Meanwhile, Olive weakened and recurved northeast, losing typhoon strength on 19 September; its archived track continues through 21 September.
IMPACT
Reported impact
| Deaths | 0 |
|---|
Facts from Wikidata.
Further reading
NOAA IBTrACS v04r01 historical track archive
QUICK ANSWERS
Olive in brief
What was Typhoon Olive's highest wind speed?
184 mph, the highest one-minute sustained wind in its tropical stage, recorded on Sep 17, 1952, 06:00 PM UTC.
What category was Typhoon Olive?
Category 5 at its peak on the Saffir–Simpson one-minute wind scale, first reaching Category 5 on Sep 17, 1952, 12:00 AM UTC. Other agencies classify storms differently.
What was Typhoon Olive's lowest pressure?
940 mb, the minimum central pressure recorded during its tropical stage, on Sep 15, 1952, 06:00 PM UTC.
When did Typhoon Olive occur?
The archived track runs from Sep 13, 1952, 12:00 PM UTC to Sep 21, 1952, 12:00 PM UTC, with the tropical stage from Sep 13, 1952, 12:00 PM UTC to Sep 21, 1952, 12:00 PM UTC.
Where did Typhoon Olive form?
In the Western Pacific basin, in the 1952 season. Its first archived position is 18°N, 178°E on Sep 13, 1952, 12:00 PM UTC.
Did Typhoon Olive make landfall?
No archived position places Typhoon Olive's center over land, but positions are six-hourly and a brief landfall can fall between them.
How many people died in Typhoon Olive?
0 deaths are recorded by Wikidata.
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