The 1961 season

Unnamed tropical depression (1961)

Unnamed tropical depression peaked at unknown kt in the South Pacific between January 17, 1961 and January 28, 1961, and made landfall.

Radar

Reflectivity now over Unnamed tropical depression. Open it to see storms, cones and warnings on the map.

Open the live radar with storms, cones and warnings

Radar mosaic and map layers from NOAA MRMS. Boundaries from the Iowa Environmental Mesonet.

The storm

Basin
South Pacific
Dates
January 17, 1961 to January 28, 1961
Peak strength
Tropical Depression
Landfall
Yes
Accumulated cyclone energy
0.0
Identifier
1961017S10135

Deaths and damage

No source this site reads publishes a machine-readable casualty or damage figure for a storm of this era. The National Hurricane Center’s season tables begin in 1995 and carry deaths and damage only from 2005 in the Atlantic and 2020 in both basins; the US Storm Events record begins in 1996.

Track

Time (UTC)PositionWindPressureStatus
Jan 17, 00:009.9S 135.1ETropical storm
Jan 17, 06:009.8S 134.9ETropical storm
Jan 17, 12:009.8S 134.7ETropical storm
Jan 17, 18:009.7S 134.5ETropical storm
Jan 18, 00:009.7S 134.1ETropical storm
Jan 18, 06:009.7S 133.2ETropical storm
Jan 18, 12:009.7S 132.1ETropical storm
Jan 18, 18:009.9S 131.0ETropical storm
Jan 19, 00:0010.1S 130.0ETropical storm
Jan 19, 06:0010.5S 129.2ETropical storm
Jan 19, 12:0010.9S 128.5ETropical storm
Jan 19, 18:0011.5S 127.6ETropical storm
Jan 20, 00:0011.8S 126.9ETropical storm
Jan 20, 06:0011.9S 126.6ETropical storm
Jan 20, 12:0011.9S 126.5ETropical storm
Jan 20, 18:0012.0S 126.3ETropical storm
Jan 21, 00:0012.0S 126.1ETropical storm
Jan 21, 06:0012.2S 125.8ETropical storm
Jan 21, 12:0012.3S 125.6ETropical storm
Jan 21, 18:0012.4S 125.4ETropical storm
Jan 22, 00:0012.5S 125.0ETropical storm
Jan 22, 06:0013.1S 124.2ETropical storm
Jan 22, 12:0013.8S 123.4ETropical storm
Jan 22, 18:0014.8S 122.5ETropical storm
Jan 23, 00:0015.3S 121.8ETropical storm
Jan 23, 06:0015.5S 121.5ETropical storm
Jan 23, 12:0015.6S 121.4ETropical storm
Jan 23, 18:0015.8S 121.3ETropical storm
Jan 24, 00:0015.9S 121.0ETropical storm
Jan 24, 06:0016.4S 120.2ETropical storm
Jan 24, 12:0016.9S 119.1ETropical storm
Jan 24, 18:0017.5S 117.9ETropical storm
Jan 25, 00:0018.0S 117.2ETropical storm
Jan 25, 06:0018.2S 116.9ETropical storm
Jan 25, 12:0018.3S 116.7ETropical storm
Jan 25, 18:0018.6S 116.4ETropical storm
Jan 26, 00:0019.2S 116.1ETropical storm
Jan 26, 06:0020.1S 115.6ETropical storm
Jan 26, 12:0021.1S 115.0ETropical storm
Jan 26, 18:0022.0S 114.5ETropical storm
Jan 27, 00:0023.1S 114.3ETropical storm
Jan 27, 06:0024.9S 114.4ETropical storm
Jan 27, 12:0026.5S 115.1ETropical storm
Jan 27, 18:0027.4S 116.3ETropical storm
Jan 28, 00:0028.2S 118.2ETropical storm
Jan 28, 06:0029.0S 120.3ETropical storm
Jan 28, 12:0029.7S 122.5ETropical storm
Jan 28, 18:0030.9S 124.6ETropical storm

Other South Pacific storms of 1961

What this means

A best track is the record a warning agency settles on after the storm, not what it said at the time: position, maximum sustained wind and central pressure every six hours, revised against every observation that came in later. Category is the Saffir-Simpson scale, which runs from Category 1 at 64 kt to Category 5 at 137 kt and reads wind only, so it says nothing about surge or rain. Accumulated cyclone energy adds up the square of the wind through the storm's life, so it counts strength and duration together.

Sources

Storm history from NOAA NCEI’s International Best Track Archive for Climate Stewardship (IBTrACS), which merges the official best track of every warning agency. Live storms, cones, watches and warnings from the National Hurricane Center and the Central Pacific Hurricane Center. Archived radar from NOAA’s Level II archive.