1961 Western Pacific typhoon season
Typhoon Tilda 1961
Typhoon Tilda changed course toward Okinawa and China after initially heading north toward Japan in 1961. It passed just south of Okinawa, bringing destructive winds, then weakened before reaching the mainland south of Shanghai. Its later circulation turned back toward the northern seas.
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161 mph
Sep 30, 1961 during the tropical stage
Full archive record, including non-tropical stages if present
Along the recorded center positions
STORM HISTORY
A northward approach turns west
Tilda intensified over the western Pacific and initially moved north toward Japan. The archive records its Category 5 peak of 140 kt and minimum pressure of 925 hPa at 00:00 UTC on 30 September. It then turned west and passed about fifteen miles south of Okinawa.
Naha recorded sustained winds of 85 mph and gusts of 120 mph. The Lebanese merchant ship Sheik ran aground near Kitadaitōjima, with two people killed. Taiwan canceled its Sky Soldier military exercise because of the approaching storm.
China landfall and the northern turn
Tilda reached China about 100 miles south of Shanghai on 4 October. The archive records 80 kt at its strongest sampled center-over-land position. The historical account reports eleven deaths and more than US$6 million in crop damage in 1961 dollars.
Westerly winds later carried the weakening circulation back toward the Sea of Japan. It lost its tropical character and continued toward the Sea of Okhotsk, with archived positions extending through 9 October.
Further reading
QUICK ANSWERS
Tilda in brief
What was Typhoon Tilda's highest wind speed?
161 mph, the highest one-minute sustained wind in its tropical stage, recorded on Sep 30, 1961, 12:00 AM UTC.
What category was Typhoon Tilda?
Category 5 at its peak on the Saffir–Simpson one-minute wind scale, first reaching Category 5 on Sep 30, 1961, 12:00 AM UTC. Other agencies classify storms differently.
What was Typhoon Tilda's lowest pressure?
925 mb, the minimum central pressure recorded during its tropical stage, on Sep 30, 1961, 12:00 AM UTC.
When did Typhoon Tilda occur?
The archived track runs from Sep 25, 1961, 12:00 PM UTC to Oct 9, 1961, 12:00 PM UTC, with the tropical stage from Sep 26, 1961, 06:00 AM UTC to Oct 5, 1961, 03:00 AM UTC.
Where did Typhoon Tilda form?
In the Western Pacific basin, in the 1961 season. Its first archived position is 11.2°N, 161.3°E on Sep 25, 1961, 12:00 PM UTC.
Did Typhoon Tilda make landfall?
The archive places its center over land at 2 recorded positions; the strongest is 92 mph on Oct 4, 1961, 12:00 AM 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