The 1971 season

Cyclone Sheila:Sophie (1971)

Cyclone Sheila:Sophie reached Category 1 in the South Indian between January 29, 1971 and February 6, 1971, with a lowest pressure of 925 mb, and made landfall.

Track and intensity

The whole track of Cyclone Sheila:Sophie, 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
South Indian
Dates
January 29, 1971 to February 6, 1971
Peak strength
Category 1, 70 kt (81 mph)
Lowest pressure
925 mb (27.32 inHg)
Landfall
Yes
Accumulated cyclone energy
2.8
Identifier
SH121971

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
Jan 29, 00:0014.0S 121.0E20 ktTropical storm
Jan 29, 06:0014.0S 120.8E30 ktTropical storm
Jan 29, 12:0014.0S 120.5E35 ktTropical storm
Jan 29, 18:0014.0S 120.3E40 ktTropical storm
Jan 30, 00:0014.0S 120.0E40 ktTropical storm
Jan 30, 06:0014.0S 119.7E30 ktTropical storm
Jan 30, 12:0014.0S 119.4E20 ktTropical storm
Jan 30, 18:0014.0S 119.2E35 ktTropical storm
Jan 31, 00:0014.0S 119.0E45 ktTropical storm
Jan 31, 06:0014.2S 118.6E40 ktTropical storm
Jan 31, 12:0014.6S 118.2E35 ktTropical storm
Jan 31, 18:0014.7S 117.5E25 ktTropical storm
Feb 1, 00:0015.0S 117.0E25 ktTropical storm
Feb 1, 06:0015.7S 117.0E25 ktTropical storm
Feb 1, 12:0016.6S 117.0E30 ktTropical storm
Feb 1, 18:0017.3S 117.0E30 ktTropical storm
Feb 2, 00:0018.0S 117.0E35 ktTropical storm
Feb 2, 06:0018.6S 117.0E40 ktTropical storm
Feb 2, 12:0019.2S 117.0E55 ktTropical storm
Feb 2, 18:0019.6S 117.0E65 ktTropical storm
Feb 3, 00:0020.0S 117.0E70 ktTropical storm
Feb 3, 06:0021.3S 117.2E50 ktTropical storm
Feb 3, 12:0022.6S 117.6E30 ktTropical storm
Feb 3, 18:0023.3S 117.9E30 ktTropical storm
Feb 4, 00:0024.0S 118.0E30 ktTropical storm
Feb 4, 06:0024.6S 118.0E30 ktTropical storm
Feb 4, 12:0025.3S 118.0E30 ktTropical storm
Feb 4, 18:0026.4S 118.0E25 ktTropical storm
Feb 5, 00:0028.0S 118.0E25 ktTropical storm
Feb 5, 06:0029.8S 118.3E25 ktTropical storm
Feb 5, 12:0031.5S 118.8E25 ktTropical storm
Feb 5, 18:0032.9S 119.4E20 ktTropical storm
Feb 6, 00:0034.0S 120.0E20 ktTropical storm

Other South Indian 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.