The 1971 season

Tropical Storm Ida (1971)

Tropical Storm Ida peaked at 45 kt in the South Pacific between February 15, 1971 and February 23, 1971, with a lowest pressure of 980 mb.

Track and intensity

The whole track of Tropical Storm Ida, 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.

Open the live map with storms, cones and warnings

The storm

Basin
South Pacific
Dates
February 15, 1971 to February 23, 1971
Peak strength
Tropical Storm, 45 kt (52 mph)
Lowest pressure
980 mb (28.94 inHg)
Landfall
No; closest approach 278 km (173 mi)
Accumulated cyclone energy
0.4
Identifier
SH181971

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
Feb 15, 06:0016.9S 157.7E15 ktTropical storm
Feb 15, 12:0016.4S 156.3E15 ktTropical storm
Feb 15, 18:0016.4S 155.9E15 ktTropical storm
Feb 16, 00:0016.9S 156.1E20 ktTropical storm
Feb 16, 06:0017.2S 156.3E20 ktTropical storm
Feb 16, 12:0017.2S 156.4E20 ktTropical storm
Feb 16, 18:0017.3S 156.6E20 ktTropical storm
Feb 17, 00:0017.5S 157.2E35 ktTropical storm
Feb 17, 06:0017.6S 157.8E45 ktTropical storm
Feb 17, 12:0017.8S 158.2E35 ktTropical storm
Feb 17, 18:0018.1S 158.7E25 ktTropical storm
Feb 18, 00:0019.1S 159.6E25 ktTropical storm
Feb 18, 06:0020.1S 160.4E25 ktTropical storm
Feb 18, 12:0020.8S 160.9E25 kt990 mbTropical storm
Feb 18, 18:0021.3S 161.4E25 ktTropical storm
Feb 19, 00:0021.7S 161.7E25 kt990 mbTropical storm
Feb 19, 06:0022.1S 162.0E25 ktTropical storm
Feb 19, 12:0022.4S 162.2E15 kt990 mbTropical storm
Feb 19, 18:0022.6S 162.4E10 ktTropical storm
Feb 20, 00:0022.9S 162.6E20 kt990 mbTropical storm
Feb 20, 06:0023.2S 162.7E25 ktTropical storm
Feb 20, 12:0023.8S 163.3E15 kt997 mbTropical storm
Feb 20, 18:0024.5S 164.2E10 ktTropical storm
Feb 21, 00:0025.0S 165.2E15 kt997 mbTropical storm
Feb 21, 06:0025.5S 166.4E20 ktTropical storm
Feb 21, 12:0025.8S 167.8E20 kt997 mbTropical storm
Feb 21, 18:0024.9S 172.4ENot reported
Feb 22, 00:0025.0S 174.0E30 kt997 mbNot reported
Feb 22, 06:0025.7S 174.1ENot reported
Feb 22, 12:0026.6S 173.4E30 kt997 mbNot reported
Feb 22, 18:0027.3S 172.8ENot reported
Feb 23, 00:0027.9S 172.3E30 kt997 mbNot reported

Other South Pacific 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.