The 1971 season

Typhoon Shirley (1971)

Typhoon Shirley reached Category 2 in the Western Pacific between August 10, 1971 and August 19, 1971, with a lowest pressure of 955 mb.

Track and intensity

The whole track of Typhoon Shirley, 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 10, 1971 to August 19, 1971
Peak strength
Category 2, 90 kt (104 mph)
Lowest pressure
955 mb (28.20 inHg)
Landfall
No; closest approach 458 km (285 mi)
Accumulated cyclone energy
11.8
Identifier
WP221971

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 10, 00:0022.5N 155.2ETropical storm
Aug 10, 06:0022.3N 154.3ETropical storm
Aug 10, 12:0022.2N 153.5ETropical storm
Aug 10, 18:0022.7N 153.4E1008 mbMixed
Aug 11, 00:0022.8N 152.9E1008 mbMixed
Aug 11, 06:0022.7N 151.9E1006 mbMixed
Aug 11, 12:0022.4N 150.8E1004 mbMixed
Aug 11, 18:0022.2N 149.9E1004 mbMixed
Aug 12, 00:0022.0N 148.7E1002 mbTropical storm
Aug 12, 06:0022.0N 147.9E1000 mbTropical storm
Aug 12, 12:0022.2N 146.7E45 kt998 mbTropical storm
Aug 12, 18:0022.3N 145.9E50 kt994 mbTropical storm
Aug 13, 00:0022.5N 145.2E55 kt992 mbTropical storm
Aug 13, 06:0022.8N 144.7E60 kt990 mbTropical storm
Aug 13, 12:0023.1N 144.3E65 kt990 mbTropical storm
Aug 13, 18:0023.6N 144.1E70 kt985 mbTropical storm
Aug 14, 00:0024.1N 144.3E70 kt980 mbTropical storm
Aug 14, 06:0024.5N 144.7E75 kt980 mbTropical storm
Aug 14, 12:0025.2N 145.2E75 kt975 mbTropical storm
Aug 14, 18:0026.0N 145.3E80 kt970 mbTropical storm
Aug 15, 00:0026.9N 145.3E80 kt970 mbTropical storm
Aug 15, 06:0027.9N 145.3E85 kt965 mbTropical storm
Aug 15, 12:0029.1N 145.3E85 kt960 mbTropical storm
Aug 15, 18:0030.1N 145.3E85 kt960 mbTropical storm
Aug 16, 00:0031.5N 145.5E90 kt960 mbTropical storm
Aug 16, 06:0032.9N 145.9E90 kt960 mbTropical storm
Aug 16, 12:0034.5N 146.9E85 kt965 mbMixed
Aug 16, 18:0036.3N 148.6E85 kt965 mbMixed
Aug 17, 00:0038.3N 150.2E90 kt960 mbMixed
Aug 17, 06:0041.6N 153.0E90 kt955 mbMixed
Aug 17, 12:0044.6N 157.0E960 mbMixed
Aug 17, 18:0046.9N 160.6E970 mbExtratropical
Aug 18, 00:0049.7N 164.0E980 mbExtratropical
Aug 18, 06:0052.0N 167.7E992 mbExtratropical
Aug 18, 12:0053.9N 171.9E992 mbExtratropical
Aug 18, 18:0055.0N 176.0E998 mbExtratropical
Aug 19, 00:0056.5N 182.5EExtratropical

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.