The 1971 season

Hurricane Monica (1971)

Hurricane Monica reached Category 3 in the Eastern Pacific between August 29, 1971 and September 5, 1971, with a lowest pressure of 1005 mb.

Track and intensity

The whole track of Hurricane Monica, 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
Eastern Pacific
Dates
August 29, 1971 to September 5, 1971
Peak strength
Category 3, 100 kt (115 mph)
Lowest pressure
1005 mb (29.68 inHg)
Landfall
No; closest approach 292 km (181 mi)
Accumulated cyclone energy
8.8
Fastest the center moved
12 kt (14 mph)
Identifier
EP131971

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 29, 00:0012.0N 108.5W25 ktTropical depression
Aug 29, 06:0011.9N 109.2W25 ktTropical depression
Aug 29, 12:0012.0N 110.0W25 ktTropical depression
Aug 29, 18:0012.3N 111.2W40 ktTropical storm
Aug 30, 00:0012.7N 112.2W40 ktTropical storm
Aug 30, 06:0013.2N 112.5W40 ktTropical storm
Aug 30, 12:0013.6N 112.7W50 ktTropical storm
Aug 30, 18:0013.9N 113.0W50 ktTropical storm
Aug 31, 00:0014.3N 113.3W50 ktTropical storm
Aug 31, 06:0014.6N 113.8W50 ktTropical storm
Aug 31, 12:0015.0N 114.4W50 ktTropical storm
Aug 31, 18:0015.6N 114.8W65 ktHurricane
Sep 1, 00:0016.4N 114.9W65 ktHurricane
Sep 1, 06:0017.0N 114.6W65 ktHurricane
Sep 1, 12:0017.6N 114.3W75 ktHurricane
Sep 1, 18:0018.2N 114.4W100 ktHurricane
Sep 2, 00:0018.6N 114.5W100 ktHurricane
Sep 2, 06:0018.9N 114.8W100 ktHurricane
Sep 2, 12:0019.2N 115.0W75 ktHurricane
Sep 2, 18:0019.5N 115.1W70 ktHurricane
Sep 3, 00:0019.9N 115.2W65 ktHurricane
Sep 3, 06:0020.4N 115.3W60 ktTropical storm
Sep 3, 12:0021.0N 115.4W50 ktTropical storm
Sep 3, 18:0021.8N 115.3W35 kt1005 mbTropical storm
Sep 4, 00:0022.4N 115.1W25 ktTropical depression
Sep 4, 06:0022.7N 114.9W25 ktTropical depression
Sep 4, 12:0023.0N 114.8W25 ktTropical depression
Sep 4, 18:0023.3N 114.7W25 ktTropical depression
Sep 5, 00:0023.5N 114.7W25 ktTropical depression

Other Eastern 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.

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