The 1963 season

Tropical Storm Hester (1963)

Tropical Storm Hester peaked at 45 kt in the Western Pacific between September 7, 1963 and September 16, 1963, with a lowest pressure of 998 mb.

Track and intensity

The whole track of Tropical Storm Hester, colored by strength, with the other storms of the 1963 season in the same basin behind it, and its wind and pressure hour by hour. Every fix is in the track table below.

Open the live map with storms, cones and warnings

The storm

Basin
Western Pacific
Dates
September 7, 1963 to September 16, 1963
Peak strength
Tropical Storm, 45 kt (52 mph)
Lowest pressure
998 mb (29.47 inHg)
Landfall
No; closest approach 387 km (240 mi)
Accumulated cyclone energy
0.9
Identifier
WP151963

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
Sep 7, 18:0013.0N 150.8E1006 mbMixed
Sep 8, 00:0013.1N 149.9E1006 mbMixed
Sep 8, 06:0013.2N 149.0E1006 mbMixed
Sep 8, 12:0013.8N 148.4E25 kt1006 mbMixed
Sep 8, 18:0014.2N 147.5E25 kt1006 mbMixed
Sep 9, 00:0014.5N 146.5E25 kt1006 mbMixed
Sep 9, 06:0014.9N 145.5E25 kt1004 mbMixed
Sep 9, 12:0015.3N 144.5E25 kt1006 mbMixed
Sep 9, 18:0015.6N 143.5E25 kt1005 mbMixed
Sep 10, 00:0015.8N 142.5E25 kt1005 mbMixed
Sep 10, 06:0015.9N 141.7E30 kt1004 mbMixed
Sep 10, 12:0016.0N 141.1E30 kt1004 mbMixed
Sep 10, 18:0016.1N 140.6E35 kt1004 mbTropical storm
Sep 11, 00:0016.2N 139.9E35 kt1004 mbTropical storm
Sep 11, 06:0016.3N 138.8E40 kt1000 mbTropical storm
Sep 11, 12:0016.3N 136.7E45 kt1000 mbTropical storm
Sep 11, 18:0016.9N 134.3E40 kt1000 mbTropical storm
Sep 12, 00:0019.1N 132.7E35 kt998 mbTropical storm
Sep 12, 06:0021.6N 132.8E30 kt998 mbTropical storm
Sep 12, 12:0023.6N 132.5E998 mbTropical storm
Sep 12, 18:0025.0N 132.4E998 mbTropical storm
Sep 13, 00:0026.5N 132.6E998 mbTropical storm
Sep 13, 06:0027.8N 133.6E998 mbTropical storm
Sep 13, 12:0029.0N 134.4E998 mbMixed
Sep 13, 18:0030.2N 137.4E998 mbMixed
Sep 14, 00:0030.9N 140.0E998 mbExtratropical
Sep 14, 06:0031.6N 144.7E998 mbExtratropical
Sep 14, 12:0032.0N 151.2E998 mbExtratropical
Sep 14, 18:0032.8N 157.0E998 mbExtratropical
Sep 15, 00:0033.7N 163.2E998 mbExtratropical
Sep 15, 06:0033.9N 167.1E1002 mbExtratropical
Sep 15, 12:0034.1N 170.2E1002 mbExtratropical
Sep 15, 18:0034.8N 174.1E1008 mbExtratropical
Sep 16, 00:0035.5N 178.5E1010 mbExtratropical
Sep 16, 06:0036.2N 182.1EExtratropical

Other Western Pacific storms of 1963

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.