The 1973 season

Hurricane Emily (1973)

Hurricane Emily reached Category 4 in the Eastern Pacific between July 21, 1973 and July 28, 1973, with a lowest pressure of 972 mb.

Track and intensity

The whole track of Hurricane Emily, 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
Eastern Pacific
Dates
July 21, 1973 to July 28, 1973
Peak strength
Category 4, 120 kt (138 mph)
Lowest pressure
972 mb (28.70 inHg)
Landfall
No; closest approach 236 km (147 mi)
Accumulated cyclone energy
13.6
Fastest the center moved
16 kt (18 mph)
Identifier
EP051973

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
Jul 21, 12:0013.3N 97.0W30 ktTropical depression
Jul 21, 18:0014.0N 98.5W45 ktTropical storm
Jul 22, 00:0014.6N 100.0W55 ktTropical storm
Jul 22, 06:0015.0N 101.4W65 ktHurricane
Jul 22, 12:0015.3N 102.7W65 ktHurricane
Jul 22, 18:0015.8N 103.9W100 kt982 mbHurricane
Jul 23, 00:0016.2N 105.0W110 ktHurricane
Jul 23, 06:0016.5N 105.9W110 ktHurricane
Jul 23, 12:0016.7N 106.8W120 ktHurricane
Jul 23, 18:0017.0N 107.9W110 kt972 mbHurricane
Jul 24, 00:0017.2N 109.0W100 ktHurricane
Jul 24, 06:0017.3N 109.8W100 ktHurricane
Jul 24, 12:0017.3N 110.6W100 ktHurricane
Jul 24, 18:0017.4N 111.4W65 ktHurricane
Jul 25, 00:0017.5N 112.2W65 kt989 mbHurricane
Jul 25, 06:0017.6N 113.2W65 ktHurricane
Jul 25, 12:0017.7N 114.3W65 ktHurricane
Jul 25, 18:0017.8N 115.7W55 kt990 mbTropical storm
Jul 26, 00:0017.9N 117.2W40 ktTropical storm
Jul 26, 06:0018.0N 118.2W40 ktTropical storm
Jul 26, 12:0018.4N 119.0W40 ktTropical storm
Jul 26, 18:0019.1N 119.7W35 ktTropical storm
Jul 27, 00:0020.0N 120.4W35 ktTropical storm
Jul 27, 06:0021.3N 121.3W35 ktTropical storm
Jul 27, 12:0022.0N 122.5W35 ktTropical storm
Jul 27, 18:0022.0N 122.9W35 ktTropical storm
Jul 28, 00:0022.0N 123.0W35 ktTropical storm
Jul 28, 06:0022.0N 123.0W30 ktTropical depression
Jul 28, 12:0022.0N 123.0W25 ktTropical depression

Other Eastern 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.

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.