1954 Pacific typhoon season

Four Category 5s among 18 storms

The site's archive holds 34 systems for 1954, but only 18 reached 34 kt on US-agency one-minute winds. Fifteen of those became typhoons and 10 reached 96 kt or more. Ida, Pamela, Ruby and Sally each peaked at 150 kt. Accumulated cyclone energy came to 301, and Typhoon Kathy spent the longest time on record.

Other tallies count 33 tropical depressions, 19 tropical storms, 15 typhoons and five super typhoons. Its extra storm and many of the depressions come from analyses by other agencies, while the site counts only storms with one-minute winds of 34 kt or more. The super typhoon label starts at 130 kt, so Typhoon June joins the four storms that crossed the 137 kt Category 5 threshold.

A slow start, then Typhoon Grace

A tropical storm affected the Philippines in early March. Typhoon Elsie formed east of the Philippines on 5 May, reached 100 kt over the South China Sea and weakened to a tropical storm before hitting China. Typhoon Flossie stayed over open water in early July.

Typhoon Grace peaked at 100 kt on 15 August and struck Okinawa and the southern Japanese islands of Kyushu and Shikoku. It killed 28 people and left 33 missing. Typhoon Helen approached Japan as a tropical storm at the same time without coming ashore.

Typhoon Ida strikes China

Ida formed near 10°N, 158.5°E on 18 August and reached its peak of 150 kt on 26 August. Its pressure fell to 890 hPa the next morning, the lowest of the season. Ida weakened before reaching China, where the archive's strongest wind over land is 65 kt on 29 August.

At least 884 people were killed. As Ida passed Hong Kong, the harbor at North Point and Quarry Bay recorded a storm surge of 1.68 m.

June, Lorna and Marie hit Japan in September

Typhoon Kathy hit Japan in early September. Typhoon June peaked at 130 kt on 7 September and reintensified twice, northeast of Manila and again on 12 September, as it grew to 600 miles across. Japanese meteorologists compared it to the 1934 Muroto typhoon. June passed west of Yakushima and came ashore at Shimonoseki in Yamaguchi Prefecture on the night of 13 September. It killed 107 people and left 39 missing.

Typhoon Lorna reached 100 kt on 15 September after damaging six households on Saipan. In Japan it killed 34 people and left 20 missing, flooded more than 43,000 homes and sank or damaged 149 vessels.

Typhoon Marie peaked at 75 kt and hit Japan on 26 September. After crossing Kyushu and Chugoku it raced northeast through the Sea of Japan to Hokkaido. Gales and high seas caught Seikan ferries leaving Hakodate, and the Toya Maru sank; it killed 1,361 people and left 400 missing, and Japan remembers Marie as the Toya Maru Typhoon. The storm's winds also helped drive a large fire at Iwanai on Hokkaido.

Three Category 5s in November

Typhoon Nancy struck the Philippines in early October, and Typhoon Olga reached 100 kt at sea. Typhoon Pamela formed on 27 October and peaked at 150 kt on 1 November, with a lowest pressure of 900 hPa on 2 November. It is one of only four storms known to reach Category 5 in the South China Sea. Pamela weakened before coming ashore just west of Macau on 6 November, with archived winds over land near 70 kt. Gusts reached 175 km/h on Waglan Island and 155 km/h at the Hong Kong Observatory, the strongest there since 1900.

Typhoon Ruby peaked at 150 kt on 6 November, crossed the Philippines at about 65 kt and reached China as a tropical storm. Typhoon Sally hit 150 kt on 14 November and brushed northeastern Luzon before curving out to sea. Typhoon Tilda reached 125 kt on 27 November, hit the Philippines and dissipated near Vietnam. A final system in late December closed the year on 26 December.