The 1971 season

Hurricane Priscilla (1971)

Hurricane Priscilla reached Category 3 in the Eastern Pacific between October 6, 1971 and October 13, 1971, with a lowest pressure of 951 mb, and made landfall.

Track and intensity

The whole track of Hurricane Priscilla, 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
Eastern Pacific
Dates
October 6, 1971 to October 13, 1971
Peak strength
Category 3, 110 kt (127 mph)
Lowest pressure
951 mb (28.08 inHg)
Landfall
Yes
Accumulated cyclone energy
13.1
Fastest the center moved
12 kt (14 mph)
Identifier
EP161971

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
Oct 6, 12:0010.5N 89.9W30 ktTropical depression
Oct 6, 18:0010.7N 90.9W30 ktTropical depression
Oct 7, 00:0011.0N 91.7W30 ktTropical depression
Oct 7, 06:0011.3N 92.4W30 ktTropical depression
Oct 7, 12:0011.6N 93.2W30 ktTropical depression
Oct 7, 18:0011.9N 93.6W40 ktTropical storm
Oct 8, 00:0012.2N 94.7W40 ktTropical storm
Oct 8, 06:0012.5N 95.3W40 ktTropical storm
Oct 8, 12:0012.8N 95.9W40 ktTropical storm
Oct 8, 18:0013.1N 96.7W70 kt984 mbHurricane
Oct 9, 00:0013.4N 97.6W70 ktHurricane
Oct 9, 06:0013.8N 98.5W70 ktHurricane
Oct 9, 12:0014.2N 99.3W80 ktHurricane
Oct 9, 18:0014.6N 100.5W90 kt960 mbHurricane
Oct 10, 00:0015.0N 101.6W90 ktHurricane
Oct 10, 06:0015.6N 102.7W90 ktHurricane
Oct 10, 12:0016.2N 103.8W90 ktHurricane
Oct 10, 18:0016.7N 104.6W110 kt951 mbHurricane
Oct 11, 00:0017.3N 105.4W110 ktHurricane
Oct 11, 06:0017.9N 106.0W110 ktHurricane
Oct 11, 12:0018.6N 106.3W110 ktHurricane
Oct 11, 18:0019.3N 106.4W80 ktHurricane
Oct 12, 00:0020.1N 106.3W80 ktHurricane
Oct 12, 06:0020.8N 106.0W70 ktHurricane
Oct 12, 12:0021.5N 105.5W60 ktTropical storm
Oct 12, 18:0022.1N 104.8W40 ktTropical storm
Oct 13, 00:0022.6N 103.8W25 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.