Tropical Storm Rita (1971)

Basin

South Indian

Dates

January 22, 1971 to January 30, 1971

Peak strength

Tropical Storm, 45 kt (52 mph)

Lowest pressure

980 mb (28.94 inHg)

Landfall

Yes

Accumulated cyclone energy

0.8

Identifier

SH111971

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.

• Tropical Depression AndreeSouth Indian · 1971Tropical Depression
• Tropical Depression BetsySouth Indian · 1971Tropical Depression
• Tropical Depression Andrea:ClaudineSouth Indian · 1971Tropical Depression970 mb
• Tropical Depression CarmenSouth Indian · 1971Tropical Depression990 mb
• Tropical Depression Dominique:HilarySouth Indian · 1971Tropical Depression
• Tropical Depression JanetSouth Indian · 1971Tropical Depression980 mb
• Tropical Depression LorisSouth Indian · 1971Tropical Depression980 mb
• Tropical Depression EdithSouth Indian · 1971Tropical Depression
• Tropical Depression Ginette:MyrtleSouth Indian · 1971Tropical Depression976 mb
• Tropical Depression FelicieSouth Indian · 1971Tropical Depression
• Tropical Depression PollySouth Indian · 1971Tropical Depression980 mb
• Cyclone Sheila:SophieSouth Indian · 1971Cat 170 kt · 925 mb
• Tropical Depression HelgaSouth Indian · 1971Tropical Depression
• Tropical Depression Iphigenie:TillySouth Indian · 1971Tropical Depression
• Tropical Depression TillySouth Indian · 1971Tropical Depression
• Tropical Depression JoelleSouth Indian · 1971Tropical Depression
• Tropical Depression KalinkaSouth Indian · 1971Tropical Depression
• Tropical Depression Lise:YvonneSouth Indian · 1971Tropical Depression975 mb
• Tropical Depression Maggie:MurielSouth Indian · 1971Tropical Depression960 mb
• Tropical Depression NellySouth Indian · 1971Tropical Depression
• Tropical Storm MavisSouth Indian · 1971Tropical Storm50 kt · 975 mb

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.

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.