Cyclone Kirsty (1973)

Basin

South Pacific

Dates

February 21, 1973 to March 2, 1973

Peak strength

Cyclone, 65 kt (75 mph), ten-minute wind

Lowest pressure

975 mb (28.79 inHg)

Landfall

No; closest approach 196 km (122 mi)

Accumulated cyclone energy

0.2

Identifier

SH231973

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.

• Cyclone BebeSouth Pacific · 1973Cyclone85 kt · 945 mb
• Tropical Storm ColletteSouth Pacific · 1973Tropical Storm40 kt · 990 mb
• Unnamed tropical depressionSouth Pacific · 1973Tropical Depression
• Cyclone DianaSouth Pacific · 1973Cyclone70 kt · 965 mb
• Unnamed tropical depressionSouth Pacific · 1973Tropical Depression
• Unnamed tropical depressionSouth Pacific · 1973Tropical Depression
• Tropical Storm FelicitySouth Pacific · 1973Tropical Storm40 kt · 990 mb
• Cyclone AdelineSouth Pacific · 1973Cyclone70 kt · 970 mb
• Tropical Depression GlendaSouth Pacific · 1973Tropical Depression
• Unnamed tropical depressionSouth Pacific · 1973Tropical Depression
• Tropical Storm ElenoreSouth Pacific · 1973Tropical Storm55 kt · 980 mb
• Tropical Storm GlendaSouth Pacific · 1973Tropical Storm40 kt · 990 mb
• Cyclone LeahSouth Pacific · 1973Cyclone65 kt · 973 mb
• Tropical Storm HenriettaSouth Pacific · 1973Tropical Storm40 kt · 990 mb
• Cyclone MadgeSouth Pacific · 1973Cat 290 kt · 952 mb
• Tropical Depression HenriettaSouth Pacific · 1973Tropical Depression
• Tropical Storm JulietteSouth Pacific · 1973Tropical Storm55 kt · 980 mb
• Tropical Depression JulietteSouth Pacific · 1973Tropical Depression30 kt · 997 mb

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.

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.