Cyclone Emma (1970)

Basin

South Pacific

Dates

February 27, 1970 to March 6, 1970

Peak strength

Cyclone, 70 kt (81 mph), ten-minute wind

Lowest pressure

965 mb (28.50 inHg)

Landfall

No; closest approach 1264 km (785 mi)

Accumulated cyclone energy

4.3

Identifier

SH201970

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.

• Unnamed tropical depressionSouth Pacific · 1970Tropical Depression20 kt · 1004 mb
• Cyclone AdaSouth Pacific · 1970Cat 170 kt · 962 mb
• Unnamed tropical depressionSouth Pacific · 1970Tropical Depression
• Unnamed tropical depressionSouth Pacific · 1970Tropical Depression
• Unnamed tropical depressionSouth Pacific · 1970Tropical Depression
• Tropical Storm DawnSouth Pacific · 1970Tropical Storm45 kt · 980 mb
• Tropical Storm FlorenceSouth Pacific · 1970Tropical Storm40 kt · 990 mb
• Cyclone DollySouth Pacific · 1970Cyclone70 kt · 965 mb
• Unnamed tropical depressionSouth Pacific · 1970Tropical Depression
• Unnamed tropical depressionSouth Pacific · 1970Tropical Depression25 kt · 1000 mb
• Unnamed tropical depressionSouth Pacific · 1970Tropical Depression
• Tropical Depression CindySouth Pacific · 1970Tropical Depression25 kt · 995 mb
• Unnamed tropical depressionSouth Pacific · 1970Tropical Depression
• Tropical Storm GillianSouth Pacific · 1970Tropical Storm55 kt · 980 mb
• Tropical Storm HelenSouth Pacific · 1970Tropical Storm40 kt · 990 mb
• Tropical Depression IsaSouth Pacific · 1970Tropical Depression25 kt · 990 mb
• Unnamed tropical depressionSouth Pacific · 1970Tropical Depression

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. This storm’s winds are ten-minute averages from its regional agency. They read about 12 percent lower than the one-minute winds US agencies use, so a Saffir-Simpson category is not given for it.

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.