The 1973 season

Tropical Storm Marcelle (1973)

Tropical Storm Marcelle peaked at 60 kt in the South Indian between April 28, 1973 and May 9, 1973, with a lowest pressure of 972 mb, and made landfall.

Track and intensity

The whole track of Tropical Storm Marcelle, 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
South Indian
Dates
April 28, 1973 to May 9, 1973
Peak strength
Tropical Storm, 60 kt (69 mph), ten-minute wind
Lowest pressure
972 mb (28.70 inHg)
Landfall
Yes
Accumulated cyclone energy
6.6
Identifier
SH351973

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
Apr 28, 18:008.8S 87.3ETropical storm
Apr 29, 00:008.8S 87.2E25 kt1001 mbTropical storm
Apr 29, 06:008.8S 86.5E25 kt999 mbTropical storm
Apr 29, 12:008.8S 85.8E30 kt996 mbTropical storm
Apr 29, 18:008.8S 85.0E35 kt994 mbTropical storm
Apr 30, 00:008.8S 84.2E40 kt992 mbTropical storm
Apr 30, 06:008.8S 83.4E45 kt991 mbTropical storm
Apr 30, 12:008.8S 82.7E50 kt988 mbTropical storm
Apr 30, 18:008.8S 82.1E50 kt986 mbTropical storm
May 1, 00:008.9S 81.4E55 kt983 mbTropical storm
May 1, 06:008.9S 80.8E55 kt981 mbTropical storm
May 1, 12:009.1S 80.2E60 kt979 mbTropical storm
May 1, 18:009.5S 79.6ETropical storm
May 2, 00:0010.0S 79.1ETropical storm
May 2, 06:0010.4S 79.0ETropical storm
May 2, 12:0010.8S 79.1ETropical storm
May 2, 18:0011.2S 79.3ETropical storm
May 3, 00:0011.9S 79.4ETropical storm
May 3, 06:0013.0S 79.6ETropical storm
May 3, 12:0014.3S 79.9ETropical storm
May 3, 18:0015.7S 80.3E60 kt979 mbTropical storm
May 4, 00:0017.1S 80.6E55 kt981 mbTropical storm
May 4, 06:0018.5S 81.0E55 kt983 mbTropical storm
May 4, 12:0020.1S 81.5E55 kt986 mbTropical storm
May 4, 18:0021.5S 82.0E50 kt989 mbTropical storm
May 5, 00:0023.0S 82.5E40 kt991 mbTropical storm
May 5, 06:0024.4S 83.0E35 kt993 mbTropical storm
May 5, 12:0025.7S 83.8E30 kt996 mbTropical storm
May 5, 18:0027.2S 84.7E30 kt998 mbTropical storm
May 6, 00:0028.8S 86.1E30 kt1000 mbMixed
May 6, 06:0030.4S 88.2E30 kt1001 mbMixed
May 6, 12:0031.9S 91.6E35 kt1001 mbMixed
May 6, 18:0032.6S 95.8E40 kt1001 mbMixed
May 7, 00:0032.5S 100.3E45 kt1000 mbMixed
May 7, 06:0032.7S 104.6E50 kt996 mbMixed
May 7, 12:0033.1S 108.8E60 kt988 mbMixed
May 7, 18:0033.5S 112.8E60 kt980 mbMixed
May 8, 00:0034.0S 116.6E60 kt984 mbMixed
May 8, 06:0035.1S 120.0E50 kt987 mbMixed
May 8, 12:0038.1S 122.9E50 kt981 mbMixed
May 8, 18:0041.5S 125.3E50 kt976 mbMixed
May 9, 00:0045.0S 127.4E50 kt972 mbMixed

Other South Indian 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. 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.