The 1973 season

Tropical Storm Kate (1973)

Tropical Storm Kate peaked at 60 kt in the Western Pacific between August 20, 1973 and August 27, 1973, with a lowest pressure of 975 mb, and made landfall.

Track and intensity

The whole track of Tropical Storm Kate, 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.

Open the live map with storms, cones and warnings

The storm

Basin
Western Pacific
Dates
August 20, 1973 to August 27, 1973
Peak strength
Tropical Storm, 60 kt (69 mph)
Lowest pressure
975 mb (28.79 inHg)
Landfall
Yes
Accumulated cyclone energy
2.6
Identifier
WP131973

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 20, 06:0017.0N 124.0E996 mbTropical storm
Aug 20, 12:0017.5N 123.9E1000 mbMixed
Aug 20, 18:0018.1N 123.7E1000 mbMixed
Aug 21, 00:0018.6N 123.5E1000 mbMixed
Aug 21, 06:0019.2N 123.1E1000 mbMixed
Aug 21, 12:0019.6N 122.6E1000 mbMixed
Aug 21, 18:0020.0N 121.9E1000 mbTropical storm
Aug 22, 00:0020.3N 121.2E998 mbTropical storm
Aug 22, 06:0020.1N 119.7E996 mbTropical storm
Aug 22, 12:0019.8N 117.9E996 mbTropical storm
Aug 22, 18:0019.6N 116.2E998 mbTropical storm
Aug 23, 00:0019.3N 114.8E30 kt998 mbTropical storm
Aug 23, 06:0019.2N 114.1E30 kt998 mbTropical storm
Aug 23, 12:0019.1N 113.4E30 kt996 mbTropical storm
Aug 23, 18:0019.0N 112.7E35 kt996 mbTropical storm
Aug 24, 00:0018.9N 112.1E40 kt996 mbTropical storm
Aug 24, 06:0019.1N 111.7E45 kt990 mbTropical storm
Aug 24, 12:0019.4N 111.3E50 kt980 mbTropical storm
Aug 24, 18:0019.7N 110.8E55 kt975 mbTropical storm
Aug 25, 00:0020.0N 109.5E55 kt975 mbTropical storm
Aug 25, 06:0020.2N 108.5E60 kt975 mbTropical storm
Aug 25, 12:0020.4N 107.6E60 kt980 mbTropical storm
Aug 25, 18:0020.6N 106.8E60 kt980 mbTropical storm
Aug 26, 00:0020.8N 106.1E40 kt992 mbTropical storm
Aug 26, 06:0020.8N 105.0E30 kt994 mbTropical storm
Aug 26, 12:0020.8N 104.0E20 kt998 mbTropical storm
Aug 26, 18:0020.7N 103.2E20 ktMixed
Aug 27, 00:0020.5N 102.4E15 ktMixed
Aug 27, 06:0020.3N 101.7E15 ktTropical storm
Aug 27, 12:0020.0N 101.0E15 ktTropical storm

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.