The 1963 season

Unnamed tropical storm (1963)

Unnamed tropical storm peaked at 35 kt in the South Pacific between May 8, 1963 and May 14, 1963, with a lowest pressure of 1000 mb.

Track and intensity

The whole track of Unnamed tropical storm, 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
South Pacific
Dates
May 8, 1963 to May 14, 1963
Peak strength
Tropical Storm, 35 kt (40 mph)
Lowest pressure
1000 mb (29.53 inHg)
Landfall
No; closest approach 38 km (24 mi)
Accumulated cyclone energy
0.5
Identifier
SH521963

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
May 8, 12:0023.9S 158.1E30 ktTropical storm
May 8, 18:0023.5S 158.7E35 ktTropical storm
May 9, 00:0023.2S 159.3E35 ktTropical storm
May 9, 06:0023.0S 160.0E20 ktTropical storm
May 9, 12:0022.8S 160.7E15 ktTropical storm
May 9, 18:0022.5S 160.9E20 ktTropical storm
May 10, 00:0022.3S 160.8E25 ktTropical storm
May 10, 06:0022.2S 160.3E30 ktTropical storm
May 10, 12:0022.0S 160.2E35 ktTropical storm
May 10, 18:0021.6S 160.8E35 ktTropical storm
May 11, 00:0021.1S 161.8E30 ktTropical storm
May 11, 06:0020.6S 162.8E25 ktTropical storm
May 11, 12:0020.1S 163.7E25 ktTropical storm
May 11, 18:0019.6S 164.5E20 ktTropical storm
May 12, 00:0018.9S 165.1E20 ktTropical storm
May 12, 06:0017.7S 165.4E20 ktTropical storm
May 12, 12:0016.6S 165.5E15 ktTropical storm
May 12, 18:0015.7S 165.3E15 ktTropical storm
May 13, 00:0014.9S 164.6E10 ktTropical storm
May 13, 06:0014.1S 163.5E10 ktTropical storm
May 13, 12:0013.5S 162.4E10 ktTropical storm
May 13, 18:0013.1S 161.5E5 ktTropical storm
May 14, 00:0012.9S 161.1ETropical storm

Other South 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.