Tropical Storm Felicity (1973)
Tropical Storm Felicity peaked at 40 kt in the South Pacific between January 14, 1973 and January 18, 1973, with a lowest pressure of 990 mb.
Track and intensity
The whole track of Tropical Storm Felicity, 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.
The storm
- Basin
- South Pacific
- Dates
- January 14, 1973 to January 18, 1973
- Peak strength
- Tropical Storm, 40 kt (46 mph), ten-minute wind
- Lowest pressure
- 990 mb (29.23 inHg)
- Landfall
- No; closest approach 746 km (464 mi)
- Accumulated cyclone energy
- 1.0
- Identifier
- SH111973
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) | Position | Wind | Pressure | Status |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Jan 14, 00:00 | 13.1S 165.1W | 30 kt | 997 mb | Tropical storm |
| Jan 14, 06:00 | 14.0S 164.8W | Tropical storm | ||
| Jan 14, 12:00 | 14.9S 164.8W | 40 kt | 990 mb | Tropical storm |
| Jan 14, 18:00 | 15.7S 165.3W | Tropical storm | ||
| Jan 15, 00:00 | 16.4S 165.8W | 40 kt | 990 mb | Tropical storm |
| Jan 15, 06:00 | 17.2S 165.8W | Tropical storm | ||
| Jan 15, 12:00 | 18.0S 165.5W | 40 kt | 990 mb | Tropical storm |
| Jan 15, 18:00 | 18.6S 165.1W | Tropical storm | ||
| Jan 16, 00:00 | 19.3S 164.5W | 40 kt | 990 mb | Tropical storm |
| Jan 16, 06:00 | 20.4S 163.5W | Tropical storm | ||
| Jan 16, 12:00 | 21.6S 162.3W | 40 kt | 990 mb | Tropical storm |
| Jan 16, 18:00 | 22.6S 160.9W | Tropical storm | ||
| Jan 17, 00:00 | 23.5S 159.6W | 40 kt | 990 mb | Tropical storm |
| Jan 17, 06:00 | 24.0S 158.8W | Tropical storm | ||
| Jan 17, 12:00 | 24.2S 158.4W | 30 kt | 997 mb | Mixed |
| Jan 17, 18:00 | 26.0S 156.8W | Tropical storm | ||
| Jan 18, 00:00 | 27.0S 156.0W | 30 kt | 997 mb | Tropical storm |
Other South Pacific storms of 1973
- Cyclone BebeSouth Pacific · 1973
- Tropical Storm ColletteSouth Pacific · 1973
- Unnamed tropical depressionSouth Pacific · 1973
- Cyclone DianaSouth Pacific · 1973
- Unnamed tropical depressionSouth Pacific · 1973
- Unnamed tropical depressionSouth Pacific · 1973
- Cyclone AdelineSouth Pacific · 1973
- Tropical Depression GlendaSouth Pacific · 1973
- Unnamed tropical depressionSouth Pacific · 1973
- Tropical Storm ElenoreSouth Pacific · 1973
- Tropical Storm GlendaSouth Pacific · 1973
- Cyclone KirstySouth Pacific · 1973
- Cyclone LeahSouth Pacific · 1973
- Tropical Storm HenriettaSouth Pacific · 1973
- Cyclone MadgeSouth Pacific · 1973
- Tropical Depression HenriettaSouth Pacific · 1973
- Tropical Storm JulietteSouth Pacific · 1973
- Tropical Depression JulietteSouth Pacific · 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.