The 1963 season

Tropical Storm Rita (1963)

Tropical Storm Rita peaked at 40 kt in the Western Pacific between December 15, 1963 and December 22, 1963, with a lowest pressure of 998 mb.

Track and intensity

The whole track of Tropical Storm Rita, 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
December 15, 1963 to December 22, 1963
Peak strength
Tropical Storm, 40 kt (46 mph)
Lowest pressure
998 mb (29.47 inHg)
Landfall
No; closest approach 124 km (77 mi)
Accumulated cyclone energy
0.4
Identifier
WP241963

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
Dec 15, 00:0012.0N 130.7E1010 mbMixed
Dec 15, 06:0012.1N 129.5E1008 mbMixed
Dec 15, 12:0012.3N 128.5E1006 mbMixed
Dec 15, 18:0012.5N 127.5E1004 mbMixed
Dec 16, 00:0013.0N 126.6E1004 mbMixed
Dec 16, 06:0013.8N 126.2E25 kt1004 mbMixed
Dec 16, 12:0014.5N 125.5E30 kt1002 mbTropical storm
Dec 16, 18:0015.1N 124.9E30 kt1000 mbTropical storm
Dec 17, 00:0015.8N 124.4E30 kt1000 mbTropical storm
Dec 17, 06:0016.5N 124.1E35 kt1000 mbTropical storm
Dec 17, 12:0017.5N 124.2E40 kt1000 mbTropical storm
Dec 17, 18:0018.1N 124.4E35 kt1000 mbTropical storm
Dec 18, 00:0018.6N 124.8E30 kt998 mbTropical storm
Dec 18, 06:0019.1N 125.3E30 kt998 mbTropical storm
Dec 18, 12:0019.5N 126.2E25 kt998 mbTropical storm
Dec 18, 18:0019.2N 127.3E998 mbTropical storm
Dec 19, 00:0019.3N 128.3E1000 mbTropical storm
Dec 19, 06:0019.4N 129.3E1002 mbTropical storm
Dec 19, 12:0019.6N 130.7E1006 mbTropical storm
Dec 19, 18:0019.8N 132.7E1010 mbExtratropical
Dec 20, 00:0020.5N 135.0E1010 mbExtratropical
Dec 20, 06:0021.2N 137.9E1008 mbExtratropical
Dec 20, 12:0022.2N 140.9E1013 mbExtratropical
Dec 20, 18:0023.9N 142.9E1014 mbExtratropical
Dec 21, 00:0025.3N 144.8E1010 mbExtratropical
Dec 21, 06:0026.0N 146.7E1012 mbExtratropical
Dec 21, 12:0026.5N 148.6E1012 mbExtratropical
Dec 21, 18:0027.1N 151.0E1012 mbExtratropical
Dec 22, 00:0029.1N 153.1E1010 mbExtratropical

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.