| Category 5 Hurricane (SSHS) | |
|---|---|
| Track map of Hurricane Patsy | |
| Formed | September 6, 1959 |
| Dissipated | September 10, 1959 |
| Highest winds | 1-minute sustained: 175 mph (280 km/h) |
| Lowest pressure | 960 mbar (hPa; 28.35 inHg) |
| Fatalities | None |
| Damage | Unknown |
| Part of the 1959 Pacific typhoon season 1959 Pacific hurricane season |
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Hurricane Patsy (was also Typhoon Patsy, international designation: 5912) was a tropical cyclone of both the 1959 Pacific typhoon season and the 1959 Pacific hurricane season. Moving erratically near the international dateline, the tropical cyclone never made landfall; it came close to Midway as a Category 3 hurricane, but caused no known impact, perhaps due to its small size. It is notable for being the earliest known Category 5 hurricane, and the hurricane was an uncommon west-to-east International dateline crosser.
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On September 6, reports from aircraft indicated the existence of a tropical storm near the international dateline. Although a Hurricane Hunter fix was requested, Patsy's developing stages were likely missed because of a lack of data in the Patsy's area of formation. A trough resulted in Patsy's northeast motion, and a second trough dominated over the first, re-curving Patsy northwestward. Patsy gradually weakened as it moved northward. Two ships, President Hoover and Jesse Lykes, reported windspeeds of approximately 90 mph (155 km/h), equivalent to Category 1 status on the Saffir-Simpson Hurricane Scale on September 9. Advisories for Patsy were discontinued at 12:00 UTC the next day.[1]
Patsy's erratic path near the dateline was unusual and no documented tropical cyclone had taken such a path over the previous ten years,[2] although that of Typhoon June in 1958 was somewhat similar.[1] The National Hurricane Center's "best track" data set records Patsy exclusively east of the dateline from detection to dissipation.[3]
Hurricane Patsy ties the record of the highest maximum sustained winds in the central Pacific basin, with winds of 150 knots (280 km/h), matched only by Hurricane John of 1994. In addition, Patsy took an uncommon path that traveled west-to-east, crossing the dateline.[4] Some doubt may exist regarding that windspeed due to one report of Category 5 winds also giving a sea level pressure of only 960 mb/hPa—[5] a value typical of a Category 3 hurricane;[6] however, the second report did not give a pressure.[5]
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