The 1973 season

Tropical Storm Joan (1973)

Tropical Storm Joan peaked at 45 kt in the Western Pacific between August 17, 1973 and August 23, 1973, with a lowest pressure of 992 mb, and made landfall.

Track and intensity

The whole track of Tropical Storm Joan, 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
Western Pacific
Dates
August 17, 1973 to August 23, 1973
Peak strength
Tropical Storm, 45 kt (52 mph)
Lowest pressure
992 mb (29.29 inHg)
Landfall
Yes
Accumulated cyclone energy
0.6
Identifier
WP121973

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 17, 00:0020.1N 133.9E30 ktTropical storm
Aug 17, 06:0020.0N 133.1E30 ktTropical storm
Aug 17, 12:0019.6N 132.4E30 ktTropical storm
Aug 17, 18:0019.3N 131.6E30 ktTropical storm
Aug 18, 00:0019.2N 130.6E30 kt1002 mbTropical storm
Aug 18, 06:0019.4N 129.3E30 kt1002 mbTropical storm
Aug 18, 12:0019.8N 128.0E30 kt1002 mbTropical storm
Aug 18, 18:0020.7N 126.6E30 kt1000 mbTropical storm
Aug 19, 00:0021.4N 125.5E35 kt998 mbTropical storm
Aug 19, 06:0021.7N 124.5E40 kt996 mbTropical storm
Aug 19, 12:0021.7N 123.5E45 kt994 mbTropical storm
Aug 19, 18:0021.5N 122.2E35 kt992 mbTropical storm
Aug 20, 00:0021.5N 121.3E30 kt994 mbTropical storm
Aug 20, 06:0021.3N 119.4E30 kt996 mbMixed
Aug 20, 12:0021.3N 117.4E30 kt998 mbMixed
Aug 20, 18:0021.5N 115.5E25 kt998 mbMixed
Aug 21, 00:0021.5N 113.5E25 kt998 mbMixed
Aug 21, 06:0021.4N 112.5E20 kt998 mbMixed
Aug 21, 12:0021.3N 111.4E20 kt998 mbMixed
Aug 21, 18:0021.0N 110.2E20 kt998 mbMixed
Aug 22, 00:0020.6N 109.3E20 kt998 mbMixed
Aug 22, 06:0020.0N 107.0E20 kt998 mbMixed
Aug 22, 12:0020.0N 104.2E20 ktTropical storm
Aug 22, 18:0019.8N 101.7E20 ktTropical storm
Aug 23, 00:0018.2N 102.4EDisturbance

Other Western 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.