The 1973 season

Cyclone Bebe (1973)

Cyclone Bebe peaked at 85 kt in the South Pacific between October 19, 1972 and October 29, 1972, with a lowest pressure of 945 mb, and made landfall.

Track and intensity

The whole track of Cyclone Bebe, colored by strength, with the other storms of the 1973 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 Pacific
Dates
October 19, 1972 to October 29, 1972
Peak strength
Cyclone, 85 kt (98 mph), ten-minute wind
Lowest pressure
945 mb (27.91 inHg)
Landfall
Yes
Accumulated cyclone energy
5.9
Fastest the center moved
45 kt (52 mph)
Identifier
SH011973

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 19, 00:007.4S 178.5W30 kt997 mbTropical storm
Oct 19, 06:007.6S 178.7WTropical storm
Oct 19, 12:007.8S 178.9W30 kt997 mbTropical storm
Oct 19, 18:007.9S 179.0WTropical storm
Oct 20, 00:008.1S 179.2W40 kt990 mbTropical storm
Oct 20, 06:008.3S 179.3WTropical storm
Oct 20, 12:008.5S 179.5W55 kt980 mbTropical storm
Oct 20, 18:008.7S 179.6WTropical storm
Oct 21, 00:008.9S 179.8W65 kt970 mbTropical storm
Oct 21, 06:009.1S 179.9ETropical storm
Oct 21, 12:009.4S 179.6E80 kt955 mbTropical storm
Oct 21, 18:009.7S 179.4ETropical storm
Oct 22, 00:0010.0S 179.3E75 kt960 mbTropical storm
Oct 22, 06:0010.6S 176.2ETropical storm
Oct 22, 12:0011.4S 173.2E70 kt965 mbTropical storm
Oct 22, 18:0012.2S 175.3ETropical storm
Oct 23, 00:0013.1S 177.4E85 kt945 mbTropical storm
Oct 23, 06:0014.2S 177.4ETropical storm
Oct 23, 12:0015.4S 177.4E70 kt965 mbTropical storm
Oct 23, 18:0016.5S 177.7ETropical storm
Oct 24, 00:0017.7S 178.1E75 kt960 mbTropical storm
Oct 24, 06:0018.5S 178.6ETropical storm
Oct 24, 12:0019.0S 179.1E65 kt970 mbTropical storm
Oct 24, 18:0019.5S 179.5ETropical storm
Oct 25, 00:0020.0S 180.0E55 kt980 mbTropical storm
Oct 25, 06:0020.5S 179.2WTropical storm
Oct 25, 12:0021.0S 178.3W55 kt980 mbTropical storm
Oct 25, 18:0022.3S 177.4WTropical storm
Oct 26, 00:0023.6S 176.3W40 kt990 mbTropical storm
Oct 26, 06:0023.8S 175.0WTropical storm
Oct 26, 12:0024.0S 173.7W40 kt990 mbTropical storm
Oct 26, 18:0024.6S 172.4WTropical storm
Oct 27, 00:0025.5S 171.0W40 kt990 mbTropical storm
Oct 27, 06:0026.8S 171.8WTropical storm
Oct 27, 12:0028.3S 172.6W30 kt997 mbTropical storm
Oct 27, 18:0029.9S 168.3WTropical storm
Oct 28, 00:0031.5S 164.0W30 kt997 mbTropical storm
Oct 28, 06:0033.2S 162.5WTropical storm
Oct 28, 12:0035.0S 161.3WTropical storm
Oct 28, 18:0036.7S 160.3WTropical storm
Oct 29, 00:0038.4S 159.3WTropical storm
Oct 29, 06:0039.9S 157.8WTropical storm
Oct 29, 12:0041.3S 156.0WMixed

Other South Pacific storms of 1973

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. This storm’s winds are ten-minute averages from its regional agency. They read about 12 percent lower than the one-minute winds US agencies use, so a Saffir-Simpson category is not given for it.

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.