1951 Pacific typhoon season

Almost every storm became a typhoon

Of the 17 storms that reached 34 kt in the site's archive, only Tropical Storm Vera fell short of typhoon strength, and 11 reached 96 kt or more. Accumulated cyclone energy came to 269.8. The archive holds 34 systems in all, but 17 of them have no one-minute wind estimate and count toward none of these totals.

Other tallies count 31 tropical depressions, 25 tropical storms and 16 typhoons. Its larger storm count adds systems that the Japan and China meteorological agencies analyzed on ten-minute winds but that the Fleet Weather Center on Guam, which named storms at the time, never tracked. The site counts only storms with US-agency one-minute winds of 34 kt or more, so those extra systems appear on the map without entering the totals.

Typhoon Iris and an early start

A short-lived storm formed east of the Philippines on 19 February. Typhoon Georgia followed in March, forming near Kusaie and reaching 120 kt on 21 March. Guam issued its first typhoon bulletin only after Georgia already had Category 3 winds. The typhoon passed south of Kwajalein, which recorded 236 mm of rain in 18 hours, and weakened before reaching Eniwetok, the planned site of American nuclear tests.

Typhoon Iris grew from a tropical wave east of Chuuk and entered its tropical stage on 29 April. A ship's report of strong winds sent reconnaissance aircraft into the storm. Iris peaked at 150 kt early on 4 May east of the Philippines, the season's only Category 5, and it was the first confirmed Category 5-equivalent typhoon in the western Pacific. The archive's lowest pressure for Iris, 909 hPa, came hours before its strongest winds.

Iris weakened before it reached the Philippines and crossed the islands, where it caused nine deaths, 39 injuries and damage to highways, bridges and crops estimated at 19.2 million pesos, about US$9.5 million at the time. Gandara on Samar recorded 484.4 mm of rain. The storm regained strength over the South China Sea, passed the Ryukyu Islands and ended with a loop south of Japan. Guam issued 50 bulletins on Iris and collected 54 reconnaissance fixes, both records for the center.

Summer landfalls from Shikoku to Korea

Typhoon Kate peaked at 100 kt off Kyushu on 1 July. Its winds were about 170 km/h when it came ashore on Shikoku the following day, below that peak. Thirteen people died on Kyushu, and flooding reached 2,000 houses in Kagoshima and Miyazaki prefectures.

Typhoon Louise peaked at 120 kt east of Luzon on 29 July and struck northern Luzon the next day, with landfall winds of about 185 km/h. Baguio recorded 483 mm of rain in 24 hours, and winds blew down 300 homes in Tuguegarao. It caused six deaths, ten injuries and damage of 5.5 million pesos, about US$2.7 million at the time. Louise reached southern China as a weak tropical storm on 2 August.

Typhoon Marge formed southeast of Guam on 10 August and peaked at 100 kt on 14 August. The archive holds its pressure of 886 hPa, the lowest of the season. Its wind circulation spanned 1,160 km, the largest observed until Typhoon Tip in 1979, and a reconnaissance flight with meteorologist Robert Simpson aboard gathered findings that shaped research on storm structure. Marge crossed the Amami Islands, passed offshore of Shanghai and came ashore near Boryeong, South Korea, as a tropical storm on 23 August.

Marge caused 12 deaths and 53 injuries across southern Japan, including four killed by storm surge in the Kyushu village of Yoshikawa, and the evacuation of 11,943 people. Okinawa recorded gusts to 180 km/h. In South Korea, coastal flooding around Busan destroyed wooden homes and displaced 550 people, and United Nations naval vessels on Korean War duty moved away from the western coast ahead of the storm.

Typhoon Ruth's toll on Japan

Typhoons Nora, Ora and Pat kept the basin busy from late August through September. Nora destroyed 800 homes and 53 fishing boats on Hainan and killed two people in Haikou.

Typhoon Ruth peaked at 120 kt on 12 October with a pressure of 924 hPa in the archive. It affected Japan from 13 to 15 October, leaving 572 dead, 2,644 injured and 371 missing, many of the deaths from river flooding. Kamiyaku in Kagoshima recorded a 195 km/h gust and 639.3 mm of rain, and Yamaguchi Prefecture suffered worst. Waves 13.5 m high struck Sasebo, where ships sank in the harbor. Property damage in Japan reached US$25 million, and total losses to property, crops and forests US$55 million, in 1951 dollars.

Wanda and Amy close the year in the Philippines

Typhoons Sarah and Thelma stayed at sea in late October, Thelma peaking at 125 kt on 29 October. Typhoon Wanda crossed the Visayas and southern Luzon on 21 November; it killed 82 people and displaced 213,242.

Typhoon Amy formed near Kwajalein on 3 December and peaked at 120 kt on 8 December before crossing the central Philippines. It struck while Mount Hibok-Hibok was erupting on Camiguin, disrupting relief for people the volcano had already displaced. It killed 29 people in Cebu City, caused damage there of 560 million pesos at the time, and destroyed homes along the east coast of Leyte and across 41 towns on Panay. Amy killed at least 556 people in all, with the final toll possibly as high as 991.

Typhoon Babs peaked at 100 kt on 15 December and stayed at sea. Amy lingered in the South China Sea until its tropical stage ended on 18 December, the last date of the season in the archive.