The 1954 Pacific typhoon season has no official bounds; it ran year-round in 1954, 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 when most tropical cyclones form in the northwestern Pacific Ocean.
The scope of this article is limited to the Pacific Ocean, north of the equator and west of the International Date Line. Storms that form east of the date line and north of the equator are called hurricanes; see 1954 Pacific hurricane season. Tropical Storms formed in the entire west Pacific basin were assigned a name by the Fleet Weather Center on Guam.
Seasonal summary
33 tropical depressions formed this year in the Western Pacific, of which 19 became tropical storms. 15 storms reached typhoon intensity, of which 5 reached super typhoon strength.
Elsie formed on May 5 east of the Philippines. After moving into the South China Sea, Elsie strengthened into a Category 3 typhoon. It later weakened and hit China as a tropcial storm, and dissipated on May 12.
Ida was the strongest storm of 1954, and made landfall in China. At least 884 were killed. Ida caused maximum storm surge of 1.68 metre at North Point/Quarry Bay when passing by Hong Kong.
June was first monitored by both the FWC and the JMA on September 4. As it started to dive southwestwards, it continued to strengthen, and became a major Category 4 storm by September 7. June slightly weakened by the middle of the day, being degraded into a Category 3 cyclone by September 8. Despite the findings of the FWC, the JMA found the typhoon even stronger than earlier, with 910 millibars (27 inHg) being reported at this time. Continued weakening took place before abruptly restrengthening while due northeast of Manila in the Philippines. By the next day, the typhoon further reintensified into a Category 4 typhoon but the JMA analysed the system as a weakened storm with a pressure of 925 millibars (27.3 inHg). On 06:00 UTC, June again weakened below that status while traveling northwestwards to north-northwestwards.The typhoon then, for the third and last time intensified again to a Category 4 typhoon by September 12 while still moving northwestwards before turning towards the north, aiming at the main Japanese islands. The storm's size further grew to 600 miles around that day, with meteorologists from Japan comparing the storm to the deadly 1934 Muroto typhoon. It then moved just west of Yakushima Island before making landfall over Shimonoseki City in Yamaguchi Prefecture by the night of September 13. On September 15, the FWC reported that the system degenerated into a “deep” extratropical low further inland. The agency would stop monitor the storm at 12:00 UTC of September 15; however, the JMA continued to track the typhoon's remnants until the same time of the next day.
During the typhoon, 107 people were killed and 39 were missing.[2]
Typhoon Lorna formed northeast of Guam on September 10. It intensified while moving west, becoming a typhoon by September 13 and threatening the Northern Mariana Islands. Peaking as a Category 3 storm with winds of 100 knots (190 km/h) on September 15, it passed west of the Philippines. Lorna weakened while turning north-northwest, then accelerated north-northeast on September 17, steered by a frontal system. It made landfall on Japan's Bōsō Peninsula on September 18, shortly before transitioning into an extratropical low over the Pacific. Tracking ended by September 19-22.
The storm damaged six households on Saipan. In Japan, it caused significant destruction: 34 deaths, 20 missing, and hundreds of injuries.[3] Flooding inundated over 43,000 homes, damaged 422 houses, ruined vast areas of cropland (66,645 hectares), and sank or damaged 149 vessels. Public infrastructure was washed out. Combined with earlier Typhoon June, Lorna caused over $300 million in damage.
Typhoon Marie had a minimum pressure of 956 mb and a maximum windspeeds of 85 mph. On September 26, Typhoon Marie hit Japan. After passing Kyushu and Chugoku, Marie proceeded through the Sea of Japan northeast at a tremendous speed and hit Hokkaido before turning extratropical. The storm eventually dissipated on September 28.
Due to Marie, some Seikan ferries such as Tōya Maru that departed from Hakodate Port, suffered a gale and high waves. Tōya Maru sank, 1,361 people were killed and 400 were left missing.[4] Due to this disaster, the typhoon is known in Japan as the Toya Maru Typhoon.[5]
Also, a large fire broke out in Iwanai, Hokkaido, partly due to the effects of Marie. This fire was called Fire of Iwanai (岩内大火) in Japan.
On October 27, Typhoon Pamela formed as a tropical depression. Pamela reached a peak of 900 mbar and 175 mph on November 1 and reached a secondary peak of 935 mbars on November 5. Gusts at landfall just to the west of Macau reached 175 km/h in Waglan Island and 155 km/h in Hong Kong Observatory which were the strongest since November 10, 1900 when the mean hourly wind speed reached 113 km/h (71 mph or 61 kts) at the Royal Observatory in Tsim Sha Tsui, in par with Typhoon Gloria. Pamela was one of four storms that reached Category 5 super typhoon status in the South China Sea, with others being Typhoon Rammasun of 2014, Typhoon Rai of 2021 and Typhoon Yagi of 2024.
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