The 1971 season

Tropical Storm Polly (1971)

Tropical Storm Polly peaked at 40 kt in the Western Pacific between August 3, 1971 and August 16, 1971, with a lowest pressure of 980 mb, and made landfall.

Track and intensity

The whole track of Tropical Storm Polly, 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
Western Pacific
Dates
August 3, 1971 to August 16, 1971
Peak strength
Tropical Storm, 40 kt (46 mph)
Lowest pressure
980 mb (28.94 inHg)
Landfall
Yes
Accumulated cyclone energy
1.3
Identifier
WP201971

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 3, 12:0011.0N 142.7E1010 mbTropical storm
Aug 3, 18:0011.7N 144.9E1008 mbMixed
Aug 4, 00:0012.6N 145.9E25 kt1004 mbMixed
Aug 4, 06:0013.4N 146.5E30 kt1002 mbTropical storm
Aug 4, 12:0014.2N 146.1E30 kt1000 mbTropical storm
Aug 4, 18:0014.8N 145.5E30 kt1000 mbTropical storm
Aug 5, 00:0015.6N 144.8E30 kt1002 mbTropical storm
Aug 5, 06:0016.2N 143.8E30 kt1002 mbTropical storm
Aug 5, 12:0016.2N 142.3E30 kt1002 mbTropical storm
Aug 5, 18:0016.1N 141.0E30 kt1002 mbTropical storm
Aug 6, 00:0016.3N 139.5E30 kt1002 mbTropical storm
Aug 6, 06:0017.2N 138.2E25 kt1000 mbTropical storm
Aug 6, 12:0017.8N 137.4E25 kt1000 mbTropical storm
Aug 6, 18:0018.5N 136.6E25 kt998 mbTropical storm
Aug 7, 00:0019.4N 135.9E25 kt996 mbTropical storm
Aug 7, 06:0020.2N 135.0E25 kt996 mbTropical storm
Aug 7, 12:0020.9N 134.3E25 kt996 mbTropical storm
Aug 7, 18:0021.6N 133.3E25 kt996 mbTropical storm
Aug 8, 00:0022.3N 132.0E25 kt995 mbTropical storm
Aug 8, 06:0024.6N 131.6E40 kt990 mbTropical storm
Aug 8, 12:0025.6N 130.0E40 kt980 mbTropical storm
Aug 8, 18:0026.6N 128.4E40 kt985 mbTropical storm
Aug 9, 00:0027.8N 126.8E40 kt985 mbTropical storm
Aug 9, 06:0028.8N 125.7E40 kt980 mbTropical storm
Aug 9, 12:0029.8N 124.7E40 kt980 mbTropical storm
Aug 9, 18:0031.2N 123.8E40 kt980 mbTropical storm
Aug 10, 00:0033.0N 123.3E40 kt985 mbTropical storm
Aug 10, 06:0034.2N 124.1E985 mbTropical storm
Aug 10, 12:0035.6N 125.2E985 mbTropical storm
Aug 10, 18:0036.8N 126.5E992 mbTropical storm
Aug 11, 00:0037.7N 128.2E998 mbTropical storm
Aug 11, 06:0038.4N 130.3E998 mbTropical storm
Aug 11, 12:0039.0N 132.2E1000 mbTropical storm
Aug 11, 18:0039.3N 134.0E1002 mbMixed
Aug 12, 00:0039.5N 135.9E1002 mbMixed
Aug 12, 06:0039.7N 137.2E1002 mbMixed
Aug 12, 12:0039.8N 138.4E1004 mbMixed
Aug 12, 18:0039.8N 139.5E1004 mbMixed
Aug 13, 00:0039.6N 141.0E1005 mbMixed
Aug 13, 06:0039.4N 143.0ETropical storm
Aug 13, 12:0039.6N 145.0ETropical storm
Aug 13, 18:0039.8N 147.1EDisturbance
Aug 14, 00:0040.2N 149.5EDisturbance
Aug 14, 06:0041.0N 152.0EDisturbance
Aug 14, 12:0042.2N 155.0EDisturbance
Aug 14, 18:0044.0N 157.4EDisturbance
Aug 15, 00:0045.5N 160.0EDisturbance
Aug 15, 06:0047.1N 164.1EDisturbance
Aug 15, 12:0048.2N 168.2EDisturbance
Aug 15, 18:0050.0N 172.0EDisturbance
Aug 16, 00:0053.0N 177.5EDisturbance

Other Western 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.