The 1971 season

Tropical Storm Laura (1971)

Tropical Storm Laura peaked at 60 kt in the North Atlantic between November 12, 1971 and November 22, 1971, with a lowest pressure of 994 mb, and made landfall.

Track and intensity

The whole track of Tropical Storm Laura, 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
North Atlantic
Dates
November 12, 1971 to November 22, 1971
Peak strength
Tropical Storm, 60 kt (69 mph)
Lowest pressure
994 mb (29.35 inHg)
Landfall
Yes
Accumulated cyclone energy
8.6
Fastest the center moved
11 kt (13 mph)
Identifier
AL221971

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
Nov 12, 12:0012.0N 78.5W25 ktTropical depression
Nov 12, 18:0012.3N 78.8W30 ktTropical depression
Nov 13, 00:0012.7N 79.0W30 ktTropical depression
Nov 13, 06:0013.3N 79.6W30 ktTropical depression
Nov 13, 12:0013.8N 80.0W30 ktTropical depression
Nov 13, 18:0014.5N 80.6W30 ktTropical depression
Nov 14, 00:0015.2N 81.3W30 ktTropical depression
Nov 14, 06:0016.0N 82.0W30 ktTropical depression
Nov 14, 12:0016.6N 82.5W35 kt1004 mbTropical storm
Nov 14, 18:0017.4N 83.2W40 ktTropical storm
Nov 15, 00:0018.2N 83.6W40 ktTropical storm
Nov 15, 06:0019.0N 83.8W45 ktTropical storm
Nov 15, 12:0019.8N 84.0W55 ktTropical storm
Nov 15, 18:0020.4N 84.1W60 ktTropical storm
Nov 16, 00:0021.0N 84.0W60 kt998 mbTropical storm
Nov 16, 06:0021.4N 83.8W60 ktTropical storm
Nov 16, 12:0021.7N 83.5W60 ktTropical storm
Nov 16, 18:0021.4N 83.4W60 ktTropical storm
Nov 17, 00:0021.1N 83.3W60 kt995 mbTropical storm
Nov 17, 06:0020.5N 83.5W60 kt995 mbTropical storm
Nov 17, 12:0020.1N 83.9W60 kt994 mbTropical storm
Nov 17, 18:0019.9N 84.2W60 kt996 mbTropical storm
Nov 18, 00:0019.7N 84.4W55 kt998 mbTropical storm
Nov 18, 06:0019.8N 84.7W50 kt1000 mbTropical storm
Nov 18, 12:0019.9N 85.0W50 kt1001 mbTropical storm
Nov 18, 18:0019.9N 85.2W50 kt1001 mbTropical storm
Nov 19, 00:0019.7N 85.5W50 kt1003 mbTropical storm
Nov 19, 06:0019.4N 85.5W45 ktTropical storm
Nov 19, 12:0019.1N 85.5W45 ktTropical storm
Nov 19, 18:0018.6N 85.7W45 kt1000 mbTropical storm
Nov 20, 00:0018.2N 86.1W40 kt1000 mbTropical storm
Nov 20, 06:0017.9N 86.5W50 kt1000 mbTropical storm
Nov 20, 12:0017.6N 87.2W55 kt1000 mbTropical storm
Nov 20, 18:0017.2N 87.7W60 kt997 mbTropical storm
Nov 21, 00:0016.7N 88.2W60 kt997 mbTropical storm
Nov 21, 06:0016.3N 88.6W60 ktTropical storm
Nov 21, 12:0016.0N 89.0W60 ktTropical storm
Nov 21, 18:0015.7N 89.4W60 ktTropical storm
Nov 22, 00:0015.3N 90.0W30 ktTropical depression

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.