Typhoon Nancy (1961)
   HOME

TheInfoList



OR:

Super Typhoon Nancy, also known as the , was an extremely powerful tropical cyclone of the
1961 Pacific typhoon season The 1961 Pacific typhoon season had no official bounds; it ran year-round in 1961, but most tropical cyclones tend to form in the northwestern Pacific Ocean between June and December. These dates conventionally delimit the period of each year wh ...
and one of the most intense tropical cyclones on record. The system possibly had the strongest winds ever measured in a tropical cyclone, with winds, tied with
Hurricane Patricia Hurricane Patricia was the most powerful tropical cyclone on record worldwide in terms of maximum sustained winds and the second-most intense on record worldwide in terms of pressure, with a minimum atmospheric pressure of 872 mbar (hPa; ), beh ...
of 2015. Nancy caused extensive damage, as well as at least 202 deaths and nearly 5,000 injuries in
Japan Japan is an island country in East Asia. Located in the Pacific Ocean off the northeast coast of the Asia, Asian mainland, it is bordered on the west by the Sea of Japan and extends from the Sea of Okhotsk in the north to the East China Sea ...
and elsewhere, in September 1961.


Meteorological history

A tropical depression formed from a
low-pressure area In meteorology, a low-pressure area (LPA), low area or low is a region where the atmospheric pressure is lower than that of surrounding locations. It is the opposite of a high-pressure area. Low-pressure areas are commonly associated with incle ...
near
Kwajalein Atoll Kwajalein Atoll (; Marshallese language, Marshallese: ) is part of the Marshall Islands, Republic of the Marshall Islands (RMI). The southernmost and largest island in the atoll is named Kwajalein Island, which its majority English-speaking re ...
on September 7. It strengthened rapidly; by the time position fixes could be taken, Nancy was nearly a super typhoon, on September 8. Moving gradually westward, Nancy explosively deepened and reached wind speeds equivalent to a Category 5 super typhoon ( Saffir–Simpson Hurricane Scale) on September 9. It would maintain that intensity for the next several days. Shortly after reaching peak intensity, Nancy approached the
Ryūkyū Islands The , also known as the or the , are a chain of Japanese islands that stretch southwest from Kyushu to Taiwan: the Ryukyu Islands are divided into the Satsunan Islands ( Ōsumi, Tokara and Amami) and Okinawa Prefecture ( Daitō, Miyako, Y ...
and began turning. It passed near
Okinawa most commonly refers to: * Okinawa Prefecture, Japan's southernmost prefecture * Okinawa Island, the largest island of Okinawa Prefecture * Okinawa Islands, an island group including Okinawa itself * Okinawa (city), the second largest city in th ...
and over
Naze The Naze is a headland on the east coast of England. It is on the coast of Essex just north of River Blackwater, Essex, Blackwater and projects into the North Sea. This area is south of the double estuary of the River Stour, Suffolk, River St ...
. The
ridge A ridge is a long, narrow, elevated geomorphologic landform, structural feature, or a combination of both separated from the surrounding terrain by steep sides. The sides of a ridge slope away from a narrow top, the crest or ridgecrest, wi ...
steering Nancy broke down, and the typhoon turned sharply and headed towards Japan. Nancy made landfall as a strong typhoon on September 16 as it passed directly over
Cape Muroto is a headland at the southeastern tip of the Japanese island of Shikoku, in the city of Muroto, Kōchi Prefecture. Extending into the Pacific Ocean and situated in within Muroto-Anan Kaigan Quasi-National Park, the cape has been designated ...
. Nancy made a second landfall on
Honshū , historically known as , is the largest of the four main islands of Japan. It lies between the Pacific Ocean (east) and the Sea of Japan (west). It is the seventh-largest island in the world, and the second-most populous after the Indonesian ...
near
Osaka is a Cities designated by government ordinance of Japan, designated city in the Kansai region of Honshu in Japan. It is the capital of and most populous city in Osaka Prefecture, and the List of cities in Japan, third-most populous city in J ...
. The
typhoon A typhoon is a tropical cyclone that develops between 180° and 100°E in the Northern Hemisphere and which produces sustained hurricane-force winds of at least . This region is referred to as the Northwestern Pacific Basin, accounting for a ...
rapidly traveled up the length of the island as it continued accelerating, eventually reaching a forward speed of . The typhoon quickly crossed over
Hokkaidō is the second-largest island of Japan and comprises the largest and northernmost prefecture, making up its own region. The Tsugaru Strait separates Hokkaidō from Honshu; the two islands are connected by railway via the Seikan Tunnel. The ...
before entering the
Sea of Okhotsk The Sea of Okhotsk; Historically also known as , or as ; ) is a marginal sea of the western Pacific Ocean. It is located between Russia's Kamchatka Peninsula on the east, the Kuril Islands on the southeast, Japan's island of Hokkaido on the sou ...
as a tropical storm. Nancy went
extratropical Extratropical cyclones, sometimes called mid-latitude cyclones or wave cyclones, are low-pressure areas which, along with the anticyclones of high-pressure areas, drive the weather over much of the Earth. Extratropical cyclones are capable of p ...
on September 17. The extratropical system eventually crossed over
Kamchatka The Kamchatka Peninsula (, ) is a peninsula in the Russian Far East, with an area of about . The Pacific Ocean and the Sea of Okhotsk make up the peninsula's eastern and western coastlines, respectively. Immediately offshore along the Pacific ...
and entered the open ocean.


Impact

Although there is no damage total known for Nancy, damage was "phenomenal" according to the JMA. There were at least 194 deaths and 8 people unaccounted for, according to the Japanese government.


Guam

On
Guam Guam ( ; ) is an island that is an Territories of the United States, organized, unincorporated territory of the United States in the Micronesia subregion of the western Pacific Ocean. Guam's capital is Hagåtña, Guam, Hagåtña, and the most ...
, over half of all crops were destroyed by heavy winds and rain. A total of $40,000 (1961
USD The United States dollar (symbol: $; currency code: USD) is the official currency of the United States and several other countries. The Coinage Act of 1792 introduced the U.S. dollar at par with the Spanish silver dollar, divided it int ...
) worth of damage was done to roads on the island. Most of the damage was on the southern end of the island. No deaths were reported on Guam.


Ryukyu Islands

On
Okinawa most commonly refers to: * Okinawa Prefecture, Japan's southernmost prefecture * Okinawa Island, the largest island of Okinawa Prefecture * Okinawa Islands, an island group including Okinawa itself * Okinawa (city), the second largest city in th ...
, low-lying areas experienced heavy flooding, which did significant damage to agriculture and structures.


Japan

In Japan, according to Japan
Fire and Disaster Management Agency The (FDMA) is an external agency attached to the Ministry of Internal Affairs and Communications in Japan. Background The Fire and Disaster Management Agency was established through article 3 paragraph 2 of the 1948 National Government Organizat ...
official confirmed report, 194 people were killed, 8 were missing, and 4,972 people were injured. These totals made Nancy the sixth-deadliest typhoon to hit Japan at the time. Timely warnings and adequate preparations were probably responsible for the relatively low death toll. The damage was "small" relative to other typhoons that impacted densely populated areas of Japan. Hundreds of thousands of people had their lives disrupted. Super Typhoon Nancy destroyed 11,539 houses, damaged 32,604 homes, and flooded 280,078 others. Although the exact number may never be known, the '' Stars and Stripes'' reported in late September 1961 that over 1,056 ships and fishing vessels were sunk or blown ashore, and that many more were damaged. Floodwaters washed away 566
bridges A bridge is a structure built to span a physical obstacle (such as a body of water, valley, road, or railway) without blocking the path underneath. It is constructed for the purpose of providing passage over the obstacle, which is usually somet ...
and caused 1146
landslide Landslides, also known as landslips, rockslips or rockslides, are several forms of mass wasting that may include a wide range of ground movements, such as rockfalls, mudflows, shallow or deep-seated slope failures and debris flows. Landslides ...
s. Roads were destroyed at a total of 2,053 locations. Damages in
Osaka is a Cities designated by government ordinance of Japan, designated city in the Kansai region of Honshu in Japan. It is the capital of and most populous city in Osaka Prefecture, and the List of cities in Japan, third-most populous city in J ...
amounted to billion. On Amami-o-Shima, one person was missing and another was badly injured. A ship was sunk. Extensive flooding of crops and houses left 152 people homeless. Due to Nancy's damage and death toll, the
Japan Meteorological Agency The Japan Meteorological Agency (JMA; ''気象庁, Kishō-chō'') is a division of the Ministry of Land, Infrastructure, Transport and Tourism dedicated to the Scientific, scientific observation and research of natural phenomena. Headquartered ...
named Nancy the "Second Muroto Typhoon". Nancy is one of only ten typhoons to receive special names in Japan.


Records

A reconnaissance aircraft flying into the typhoon near its peak intensity on September 12 determined Nancy's one-minute sustained winds to be . If these values are reliable, they would be the highest wind speeds ever measured in a tropical cyclone. However, it was later determined that measurements and estimations of wind speeds from the 1940s to 1960s were excessive. Thus, Nancy's winds may actually be lower than its official best-track value, which may actually be closer to . In 2016, reanalysis of
Hurricane Patricia Hurricane Patricia was the most powerful tropical cyclone on record worldwide in terms of maximum sustained winds and the second-most intense on record worldwide in terms of pressure, with a minimum atmospheric pressure of 872 mbar (hPa; ), beh ...
noted that the storm had the same sustained winds as Nancy, the highest on record in the
Western Hemisphere The Western Hemisphere is the half of the planet Earth that lies west of the Prime Meridian (which crosses Greenwich, London, United Kingdom) and east of the 180th meridian.- The other half is called the Eastern Hemisphere. Geopolitically, ...
. Although the Saffir–Simpson hurricane wind scale (SSHWS) did not exist at the time, Nancy would have been a Category 5 equivalent for a total of five and a half days (or 132 hours), assuming the wind speed data is reliable. If so, this is the record for the
Northern Hemisphere The Northern Hemisphere is the half of Earth that is north of the equator. For other planets in the Solar System, north is defined by humans as being in the same celestial sphere, celestial hemisphere relative to the invariable plane of the Solar ...
and more than a day longer than the runner-up system, 1962's
Typhoon Karen Typhoon Karen was the most powerful tropical cyclone to strike the island of Guam, and has been regarded as one of the most destructive events in the island's history. It was first identified as a tropical disturbance on November 6, 1962, ...
.


See also

*
List of tropical cyclone records This is a condensed list of worldwide tropical cyclone records set by different storms and seasons. Major records See also * List of weather records ** Tornado records *List of the most intense tropical cyclones *List of wettest tropical ...
* Other storms of the same name *
1934 Muroto typhoon In September 1934, a violent typhoon caused tremendous devastation in Japan, leaving more than 3,000 people dead in its wake. Dubbed the , the system was first identified on September 13 over the western Federated States of Micron ...
- The most intense landfalling typhoon in Japanese history, with a peak low pressure of *
Typhoon Vera (1959) Typhoon Vera, also known as the , was an exceptionally intense tropical cyclone that struck Japan in September 1959, becoming the strongest and deadliest typhoon on record to make landfall on the country, as well as the only one to do so as ...
- The strongest storm to ever impact Japan, with maximum sustained wind speeds of upon landfall - Comparable to a Category 5-equivalent super typhoon * Typhoon Mireille (1991) - Similar track, also very costly and destructive upon landfall *
Typhoon Neoguri (2014) Typhoon Neoguri (), known in the Philippines as Super Typhoon Florita, was a large and powerful tropical cyclone which struck Japan in early July 2014. The eighth named storm and the second typhoon of the annual typhoon season, Neoguri developed ...
- Similar track, though much weaker on landfall * Hurricane Patricia (2015) - Ties Typhoon Nancy for one-minute maximum sustained winds of . *
Typhoon Jebi (2018) Typhoon Jebi, known in the Philippines as Typhoon Maymay, was the costliest typhoon in Japan's history in terms of insured losses. Jebi formed from a tropical disturbance south-southwest of Wake Island on August 26 and became the twenty-fi ...
- Similar track, also caused massive damage in Japan *
Typhoon Hagibis (2019) Typhoon Hagibis, known in Japan as Typhoon No.19 or , was a large and costly tropical cyclone that caused widespread destruction in Japan. The thirty-eighth depression, nineteenth tropical storm, ninth typhoon, and third super typhoon of the 201 ...
- Another deadly and extremely destructive storm that became the costliest
typhoon A typhoon is a tropical cyclone that develops between 180° and 100°E in the Northern Hemisphere and which produces sustained hurricane-force winds of at least . This region is referred to as the Northwestern Pacific Basin, accounting for a ...
on record


References


External links


JMA General Information
of Typhoon Nancy (6118) from Digital Typhoon
JTWC Report
of Typhoon Nancy
Storm Path
of Typhoon Nancy {{DEFAULTSORT:Nancy (1961) 1961 Pacific typhoon season Typhoons in Guam Typhoons in Japan Typhoon Nancy