Hurricane History Map

Typhoon Kate path, 1970

Western North Pacific basin, 13 October 1970 to 26 October 1970. Its recorded track is shown on the map and selected for you.

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Years1842 to 2026
Ocean basin

Choosing a minimum category hides storms with no wind speed in the record. To see which storms have passed near you, search a town or ZIP code, or tap the map.

Key
  • Tropical depression Winds below 34 knots (39 mph)
  • Tropical storm 34 to 63 knots (39 to 73 mph)
  • Category 1 64 to 82 knots (74 to 95 mph)
  • Category 2 83 to 95 knots (96 to 110 mph)
  • Category 3 96 to 112 knots (111 to 129 mph), major
  • Category 4 113 to 136 knots (130 to 156 mph), major
  • Category 5 137 knots (157 mph) or more, major
  • Unknown intensity No wind speed in the record
  • Post-tropical Storm has become post-tropical (dashed line)

How to read the lines. Each line is the track of one storm, drawn through its six-hourly positions and coloured by its intensity at each point (the Saffir-Simpson scale), so a line changes colour as the storm strengthens or weakens. Tap a line for its details, or tap anywhere else to see which storms have passed nearby. Weaker storms appear as you zoom in. Hurricanes, typhoons and cyclones are the same kind of storm with different names in different oceans.

What the record says

Kate was a typhoon in the Western North Pacific basin that lasted about 13 days, from 13 October 1970 to 26 October 1970. Its peak was Category 4 (130 kt) on 18 October 1970, with a 1-minute sustained wind of 130 kt (150 mph, 241 km/h). Its lowest recorded pressure was 940 hPa.

  • Category 4peak intensity
  • 130 ktpeak wind (150 mph)
  • 940 hPalowest pressure
  • 13 dayslifetime

Source of the peak wind: US Joint Typhoon Warning Center (western Pacific).

It has its own page because it reached category 4 or stronger.

This page gives the official record's figures. It does not describe the human cost of the storm, which is far larger than any wind speed or pressure here.

Where it came ashore

A landfall here is the first tropical position over land after time at sea, so it is within about six hours of the real event. The record shows up to 8.

Countries it came within 50 km of

Strongest effect first.

How to read this track

The line joins the storm's six-hourly positions with straight lines, coloured by its intensity at each point, so it shows how the storm strengthened and weakened. The real path curved between the positions. A dashed grey stretch means the storm had become post-tropical. Records before the satellite era (about the 1960s) are estimates.

Source: NOAA NCEI IBTrACS, public domain. See data sources and caveats.

Other notable storms of the 1970 Western North Pacific season

Other notable storms near Indonesia

  • Narelle (2013)5 January 2013 to 15 January 2013, peak Category 4 (120 kt), 930 hPa
  • Adelaide:alice (1981)3 November 1980 to 14 November 1980, peak Category 4 (119 kt), 940 hPa
  • Felix (1981)22 December 1980 to 31 December 1980, peak Category 4 (114 kt), 940 hPa
  • Sharon (1994)12 March 1994 to 22 March 1994, peak Category 3 (110 kt), 930 hPa
  • Ilsa (2009)15 March 2009 to 26 March 2009, peak Category 3 (100 kt), 958 hPa

The 1970 Western North Pacific season · All notable storms

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