The 1945 Pacific typhoon season was the first official season to be included in the West Pacific typhoon database. It was also the first season to name storms. It has no official bounds; it ran year-round in 1945, but most tropical cyclones tend to form in the northwestern

Pacific Ocean The Pacific Ocean is the largest and deepest of Earth's five Borders of the oceans, oceanic divisions. It extends from the Arctic Ocean in the north to the Southern Ocean, or, depending on the definition, to Antarctica in the south, and is ...

between June and December. These dates conventionally delimit the period of each year when most tropical cyclones form in the northwestern

. The scope of this article is limited to the Pacific Ocean, north of the equator and west of the

International Date Line The International Date Line (IDL) is the line extending between the South and North Poles that is the boundary between one calendar day and the next. It passes through the Pacific Ocean, roughly following the 180.0° line of longitude and de ...

. Storms that form east of the date line and north of the equator are called hurricanes; see

1945 Pacific hurricane season 1945 marked the end of World War II, the fall of Nazi Germany, and the Empire of Japan. It is also the year Nazi concentration camps, concentration camps were liberated and the only year in which atomic weapons Atomic bombings of Hiroshima and ...

. Predecessor agency to the

Joint Typhoon Warning Center The Joint Typhoon Warning Center (JTWC) is a joint United States Navy – United States Air Force command in Pearl Harbor, Hawaii. The JTWC is responsible for the issuing of tropical cyclone warnings in the North-West Pacific Ocean, South P ...

(JTWC), Fleet Weather Center/Typhoon Tracking Center was established on the island of

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 ...

in June 1945, after multiple typhoons, including

Typhoon Cobra Typhoon Cobra, also known as the Typhoon of 1944 or Halsey's Typhoon (named after Admiral William Halsey Jr.), was the United States Navy designation for a powerful tropical cyclone that struck the United States Pacific Fleet in December 1944, ...

in the previous season and Typhoon Connie in this season, had caused a significant loss of men and ships. It would not take major responsibility in the West Pacific basin until 1950 season. Instead, storms in this season are identified and named by the

United States Armed Services The United States Armed Forces are the military forces of the United States. U.S. federal law names six armed forces: the Army, Marine Corps, Navy, Air Force, Space Force, and the Coast Guard. Since 1949, all of the armed forces, except the C ...

, and these names are taken from the list that USAS publicly adopted before this season had started earlier this year. Since this is the first season to be included in the West Pacific typhoon database, this would also be the first season where the names of Western Pacific tropical cyclones are preserved publicly.

Systems

Tropical Storm Ann

The first named storm of the season, Tropical Storm Ann formed on April 19 at relatively low latitude of 9.5°N. Ann generally tracked westward and later reached its peak intensity on April 21, before weakening to a tropical depression on April 23. The storm began to curve north the next day, and overall did not affect any landmasses and dissipated on April 26.

Tropical Storm Betty

The second named storm of the season, Tropical Storm Betty formed on May 13, 1945, and began to move in a northeastern direction. It strengthened into a tropical storm only 18 hours later and continued on its path. However, the storm eventually moved further north, and into colder waters. Betty weakened into a tropical depression and dissipated on May 16, having not threatened land at all.

Typhoon Connie

A small yet powerful typhoon, Connie was first spotted on June 1 by the Fleet Weather Center on

, moving northeast. Winds were reported to have been as high as 140 mph. But by June 7, it began to weaken. Its final fate is unknown. The U.S. Navy's Third Fleet was hit by Connie, and reporting about the storm frequently refers to it as Typhoon Viper. The same fleet had previously been hit, with great loss of life, by

Cobra COBRA or Cobra, often stylized as CoBrA, was a European avant-garde art group active from 1948 to 1951. The name was coined in 1948 by Christian Dotremont from the initials of the members' home countries' capital cities: Copenhagen (Co), Brussels ...

the previous year. Connie being lesser, only one officer and five seamen were lost or killed because of Connie, though multiple ships were damaged, and around 150 airplanes on its carriers were either lost or damaged.

Tropical Storm Doris

Tropical Storm Doris existed from June 18 to 21 and did not make landfall.

Tropical Storm Nancy

Tropical Storm Nancy formed on July 3 to the east of Vietnam. It started to move in a northeast direction before shifting its course to the northwest until it eventually made landfall near Hong Kong as a tropical storm. It rapidly weakened over land and dissipated on June 8. The damage is unknown.

Typhoon Opal

Tropical Storm Peggy

Tropical Storm Edna

Typhoon Eva

Typhoon Queenie

Typhoon Queenie was a storm that formed over the Northeastern part of the Philippines on August 5th, 1945, and dissipated on August 9th, 1945. It had 1-minute sustained winds of 90 mph and a pressure reading of 976mb. Queenie would form close to the Philippines and make its way over the Northern part, eventually making its way back to the sea where is later dissipated. Damages and Fatalities are unknown.

Tropical Storm Frances

Tropical Storm Grace

Typhoon Ruth

Typhoon Susan

Typhoon Tess

Typhoon Helen

Typhoon Helen formed on August 29. It moved west-northwest and strengthened into a category 3 typhoon with 120 mph winds. It weakened slightly to a category two and struck

Taiwan Taiwan, officially the Republic of China (ROC), is a country in East Asia. The main geography of Taiwan, island of Taiwan, also known as ''Formosa'', lies between the East China Sea, East and South China Seas in the northwestern Pacific Ocea ...

. It briefly was over waters before it hit

Mainland China "Mainland China", also referred to as "the Chinese mainland", is a Geopolitics, geopolitical term defined as the territory under direct administration of the People's Republic of China (PRC) in the aftermath of the Chinese Civil War. In addit ...

as a tropical storm. It rapidly weakened and dissipated on September 4.

Typhoon Ursula

This typhoon is especially remembered for the 6 aircraft containing liberated prisoners of war brought down by the typhoon between Okinawa and Manila. Over 120 servicemen lost their lives. At the time, it was the single greatest loss of life in an aviation disaster during peacetime.

Typhoon Ida

In Japan, Typhoon Ida is called Makurazaki Typhoon. It was the strongest typhoon to hit

Kyushu is the third-largest island of Japan's Japanese archipelago, four main islands and the most southerly of the four largest islands (i.e. excluding Okinawa Island, Okinawa and the other Ryukyu Islands, Ryukyu (''Nansei'') Ryukyu Islands, Islands ...

on record, with a minimum sea-level pressure of 916.1

hPa The pascal (symbol: Pa) is the unit of pressure in the International System of Units (SI). It is also used to quantify internal pressure, stress, Young's modulus, and ultimate tensile strength. The unit, named after Blaise Pascal, is an S ...

(27.05

inHg Inch of mercury (inHg, ″Hg, or in) is a non- SI unit of measurement for pressure. It is used for barometric pressure in weather reports, refrigeration and aviation in the United States. It is the pressure exerted by a column of mercury in h ...

) observed on the land and a maximum wind gust of , which was recorded at a weather station in Makurazaki. More than 2,000 people were killed in the Hiroshima Prefecture after heavy rains brought by a weakening Ida caused severe landslides.

Tropical Storm Verna

Tropical Storm Wanda

Typhoon Jean

On October 1, a USAF PB4Y-2 went down during a flight into the typhoon, killing all seven crew members aboard.

Tropical Storm Kate

Typhoon Louise

Louise was first seen developing on October 2, 1945, in the

Caroline Islands The Caroline Islands (or the Carolines) are a widely scattered archipelago of tiny islands in the western Pacific Ocean, to the north of New Guinea. Politically, they are divided between the Federated States of Micronesia (FSM) in the cen ...

. It unexpectedly veered north and slowed down, only to intensify as it passed over

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 ...

on October 9 with 90 mph wind gusts and a minimum central pressure of 968.5 mbar. Shortly after, Louise began to weaken, and hit

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 ...

as a strong tropical storm. The tropical cyclone became extratropical shortly after on October 12. In Okinawa, 36 people died, 47 people were reported missing, and 100 people were seriously injured. In

Buckner Bay is a bay on the southern coast of Okinawa Island on the Pacific Ocean in Japan. The bay covers and ranges between to deep. The bay is surrounded by the municipalities of Uruma, Kitanakagusuku, Nakagusuku, Nishihara, Yonabaru, Nanjō, all ...

, where the US military were occupying a temporary base, to waves were reported to have crashed ashore, tearing into

Quonset hut A Quonset hut is a lightweight prefabricated structure of corrugated galvanized steel with a semi-circular cross-section. The design was developed in the United States based on the Nissen hut introduced by the British during World War I. Hund ...

s and other buildings. At the time, Buckner Bay was being used as a port by the US military. Fifteen merchant ships were driven ashore, with a few wrecked. Three US Navy destroyers were grounded and declared beyond salvage. Over 200 other US military vessels, including six LSTs, a number of special purpose boats, patrol boats, and amphibious landing craft were grounded, severely damaged, or wrecked beyond repair. Eighty percent of the buildings in the bay were completely wiped out, while all 60 airplanes at the local airports were damaged.US Navy Historical Center
Pacific Typhoon at Okinawa, October 1945

Tropical Storm Marge

A tropical storm was tracked on November 1 to the northwest of

the Marianas The Mariana Islands ( ; ), also simply the Marianas, are a crescent-shaped archipelago comprising the summits of fifteen longitudinally oriented, mostly Volcano#Dormant and reactivated, dormant volcanic mountains in the northwestern Pacific Ocean ...

. It moved to the west, before making landfall on Tayabas (now

Quezon Quezon, officially the Province of Quezon () and historically known as Tayabas, is a Provinces of the Philippines, province in the Philippines located in the Calabarzon Regions of the Philippines, region on Luzon. Lucena, a highly urbanized ci ...

) in the

Philippines The Philippines, officially the Republic of the Philippines, is an Archipelagic state, archipelagic country in Southeast Asia. Located in the western Pacific Ocean, it consists of List of islands of the Philippines, 7,641 islands, with a tot ...

. It was last noted on November 4 over modern-day

Aurora Province Aurora, officially the Province of Aurora (; ), is a province in the Philippines located in the eastern part of Central Luzon region, facing the Philippine Sea. Its capital is Baler and borders, clockwise from the south, the provinces of Quezon, B ...

. The damage is unknown.

Tropical Storm Yvonne

Typhoon Nora

Typhoon Nora formed on November 22, 1945, and began to move towards the Philippines. It became a typhoon and a category 1 equivalent storm on the SSHWS scale. The slow-moving storm moved towards the Philippines, but it turned northeast at the last moment, moving over colder waters and dissipating.

Storm names

References

Bibliography

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External links

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Information on Typhoon of June 1945

{{DEFAULTSORT:Pacific Typhoon Season 1945

1945 1945 marked the end of World War II, the fall of Nazi Germany, and the Empire of Japan. It is also the year concentration camps were liberated and the only year in which atomic weapons have been used in combat. Events World War II will be ...

1945 natural disasters Tropical cyclones in 1945 1945 in Asia 1945 in Oceania