The 1971 season

Hurricane Beth (1971)

Hurricane Beth reached Category 1 in the North Atlantic between August 10, 1971 and August 17, 1971, with a lowest pressure of 977 mb, and made landfall.

Track and intensity

The whole track of Hurricane Beth, colored by strength, with the other storms of the 1971 season in the same basin behind it, and its wind and pressure hour by hour. Every fix is in the track table below.

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The storm

Basin
North Atlantic
Dates
August 10, 1971 to August 17, 1971
Peak strength
Category 1, 75 kt (86 mph)
Lowest pressure
977 mb (28.85 inHg)
Landfall
Yes
Accumulated cyclone energy
4.3
Fastest the center moved
18 kt (21 mph)
Identifier
AL061971

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
Aug 10, 12:0026.7N 79.9W20 ktTropical depression
Aug 10, 18:0026.8N 79.3W20 kt1013 mbTropical depression
Aug 11, 00:0027.4N 78.5W20 ktTropical depression
Aug 11, 06:0028.0N 78.3W25 ktTropical depression
Aug 11, 12:0028.8N 78.1W25 ktTropical depression
Aug 11, 18:0029.7N 77.7W30 kt1010 mbTropical depression
Aug 12, 00:0030.7N 77.2W30 ktTropical depression
Aug 12, 06:0031.5N 76.7W30 ktTropical depression
Aug 12, 12:0032.3N 76.3W30 ktTropical depression
Aug 12, 18:0032.7N 76.0W30 ktTropical depression
Aug 13, 00:0033.2N 75.3W30 ktTropical depression
Aug 13, 06:0033.3N 74.7W30 kt1007 mbTropical depression
Aug 13, 12:0033.5N 74.1W30 ktTropical depression
Aug 13, 18:0033.7N 73.5W30 ktTropical depression
Aug 14, 00:0033.9N 73.1W30 kt1004 mbTropical depression
Aug 14, 06:0034.2N 72.7W30 kt1000 mbTropical depression
Aug 14, 12:0034.4N 72.3W45 kt995 mbTropical storm
Aug 14, 18:0035.8N 71.0W55 kt993 mbTropical storm
Aug 15, 00:0037.2N 69.9W70 kt990 mbHurricane
Aug 15, 06:0038.4N 68.5W70 kt982 mbHurricane
Aug 15, 12:0039.7N 67.2W75 kt977 mbHurricane
Aug 15, 18:0040.8N 65.8W75 kt978 mbHurricane
Aug 16, 00:0042.0N 64.5W65 kt978 mbHurricane
Aug 16, 06:0043.2N 63.3W65 kt979 mbHurricane
Aug 16, 12:0044.0N 62.5W65 kt984 mbHurricane
Aug 16, 18:0045.3N 61.5W65 kt991 mbHurricane
Aug 17, 00:0046.7N 60.2W60 kt998 mbExtratropical
Aug 17, 06:0048.3N 59.0W50 kt998 mbExtratropical
Aug 17, 12:0049.5N 57.7W45 kt998 mbExtratropical

Other North Atlantic storms of 1971

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.

The National Hurricane Center has published no tropical cyclone report for this storm.