The 1971 season

Tropical Depression Edith (1971)

Tropical Depression Edith peaked at unknown kt in the South Indian between January 5, 1971 and January 10, 1971, and made landfall.

Track and intensity

The whole track of Tropical Depression Edith, 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
South Indian
Dates
January 5, 1971 to January 10, 1971
Peak strength
Tropical Depression
Landfall
Yes
Accumulated cyclone energy
0.0
Fastest the center moved
19 kt (22 mph)
Identifier
1971005S18039

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.

Rainfall

The Weather Prediction Center attributes 1,111 rain gauge totals over the contiguous United States to this storm. The wettest reached 8.66 inches (220 mm).

StationTotalPosition
FALCON DAM8.66 in (220 mm)26.55N 99.13W
LAKE ARTHUR8.29 in (211 mm)30.00N 92.82W
MERMENTAU8.21 in (209 mm)30.18N 92.58W
OPELOUSAS8.08 in (205 mm)30.50N 92.10W
AMITE7.31 in (186 mm)30.72N 90.53W
ROCKPORT7.05 in (179 mm)31.80N 90.15W
NEW ORLEANS DUBLIN6.79 in (172 mm)29.95N 90.13W
KENTWOOD6.50 in (165 mm)30.95N 90.52W
ST FRANCISVILLE 6 S6.45 in (164 mm)30.72N 91.30W
HARRISONBURG DAM6.43 in (163 mm)31.78N 91.82W
GRAND COTEAU6.39 in (162 mm)30.42N 92.03W
LAREDO6.37 in (162 mm)27.50N 99.52W

WPC’s storm rainfall file, 1900 to 2020, compiled by David Roth.

Track

Time (UTC)PositionWindPressureStatus
Jan 5, 06:0018.0S 39.0ETropical storm
Jan 5, 12:0018.0S 38.8ETropical storm
Jan 5, 18:0018.1S 38.4ETropical storm
Jan 6, 00:0018.3S 38.1ETropical storm
Jan 6, 06:0018.7S 38.0ETropical storm
Jan 6, 12:0019.1S 38.0ETropical storm
Jan 6, 18:0019.8S 38.6ETropical storm
Jan 7, 00:0020.2S 39.1ETropical storm
Jan 7, 06:0020.6S 39.5ETropical storm
Jan 7, 12:0020.8S 39.8ETropical storm
Jan 7, 18:0021.1S 40.0ETropical storm
Jan 8, 00:0021.7S 40.2ETropical storm
Jan 8, 06:0021.8S 40.4ETropical storm
Jan 8, 12:0022.1S 41.1ETropical storm
Jan 8, 18:0022.2S 41.0ETropical storm
Jan 9, 00:0022.2S 43.0ETropical storm
Jan 9, 06:0022.1S 43.9ETropical storm
Jan 9, 12:0022.3S 44.2ETropical storm
Jan 9, 18:0022.6S 44.9ETropical storm
Jan 10, 00:0022.8S 45.6ETropical storm
Jan 10, 06:0023.0S 46.1EMixed

Other South Indian 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.