The 1971 season

Tropical Depression Joelle (1971)

Tropical Depression Joelle peaked at unknown kt in the South Indian between February 15, 1971 and February 25, 1971, and made landfall.

Track and intensity

The whole track of Tropical Depression Joelle, 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 Indian
Dates
February 15, 1971 to February 25, 1971
Peak strength
Tropical Depression
Landfall
Yes
Accumulated cyclone energy
0.0
Identifier
SH191971

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, 06:0018.0S 39.9ETropical storm
Feb 15, 12:0018.1S 40.0ETropical storm
Feb 15, 18:0018.3S 40.1ETropical storm
Feb 16, 00:0018.5S 40.3ETropical storm
Feb 16, 06:0018.8S 40.6ETropical storm
Feb 16, 12:0019.3S 41.0ETropical storm
Feb 16, 18:0019.9S 41.5ETropical storm
Feb 17, 00:0020.3S 42.0ETropical storm
Feb 17, 06:0020.9S 42.5ETropical storm
Feb 17, 12:0021.6S 43.2ETropical storm
Feb 17, 18:0022.4S 44.1ETropical storm
Feb 18, 00:0023.1S 45.1ETropical storm
Feb 18, 06:0023.9S 46.1ETropical storm
Feb 18, 12:0024.3S 47.1ETropical storm
Feb 18, 18:0024.6S 48.0ETropical storm
Feb 19, 00:0025.1S 48.8ETropical storm
Feb 19, 06:0025.7S 49.5EMixed
Feb 19, 12:0026.6S 50.1EMixed
Feb 19, 18:0027.6S 50.1EMixed
Feb 20, 00:0028.4S 49.3EMixed
Feb 20, 06:0029.0S 48.0EMixed
Feb 20, 12:0029.4S 46.6EMixed
Feb 20, 18:0029.9S 45.1EMixed
Feb 21, 00:0030.5S 43.7EMixed
Feb 21, 06:0031.0S 42.2EMixed
Feb 21, 12:0031.5S 41.6EMixed
Feb 21, 18:0032.0S 41.7EMixed
Feb 22, 00:0032.5S 41.7EMixed
Feb 22, 06:0033.0S 41.8EMixed
Feb 22, 12:0033.9S 42.0EMixed
Feb 22, 18:0035.2S 42.4EMixed
Feb 23, 00:0034.4S 45.5EExtratropical
Feb 23, 06:0034.0S 47.0EExtratropical
Feb 23, 12:0033.5S 47.5EExtratropical
Feb 23, 18:0032.7S 47.4EExtratropical
Feb 24, 00:0031.9S 47.1EExtratropical
Feb 24, 06:0031.5S 46.5EExtratropical
Feb 24, 12:0032.2S 46.1EExtratropical
Feb 24, 18:0033.1S 46.9EExtratropical
Feb 25, 00:0033.7S 48.3EExtratropical
Feb 25, 06:0033.8S 49.3EExtratropical

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.