The 1973 season

Tropical Storm Wilda (1973)

Tropical Storm Wilda peaked at 60 kt in the Western Pacific between June 28, 1973 and July 6, 1973, with a lowest pressure of 980 mb, and made landfall.

Track and intensity

The whole track of Tropical Storm Wilda, 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
June 28, 1973 to July 6, 1973
Peak strength
Tropical Storm, 60 kt (69 mph)
Lowest pressure
980 mb (28.94 inHg)
Landfall
Yes
Accumulated cyclone energy
2.9
Identifier
WP011973

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
Jun 28, 06:0010.5N 127.8EDisturbance
Jun 28, 12:0010.9N 127.5E1006 mbMixed
Jun 28, 18:0012.3N 126.9E1006 mbMixed
Jun 29, 00:0013.4N 126.4E1006 mbTropical storm
Jun 29, 06:0014.2N 125.5E1004 mbTropical storm
Jun 29, 12:0015.1N 124.4E1004 mbTropical storm
Jun 29, 18:0016.0N 123.3E1004 mbTropical storm
Jun 30, 00:0017.0N 122.0E25 kt1006 mbTropical storm
Jun 30, 06:0017.2N 121.3E25 kt1006 mbTropical storm
Jun 30, 12:0017.5N 120.4E30 kt1004 mbTropical storm
Jun 30, 18:0017.8N 119.7E30 kt1002 mbTropical storm
Jul 1, 00:0018.3N 118.8E35 kt998 mbTropical storm
Jul 1, 06:0018.9N 118.5E40 kt998 mbTropical storm
Jul 1, 12:0019.6N 118.3E45 kt994 mbTropical storm
Jul 1, 18:0020.3N 118.0E50 kt985 mbTropical storm
Jul 2, 00:0020.9N 117.7E55 kt980 mbTropical storm
Jul 2, 06:0021.5N 117.6E55 kt985 mbTropical storm
Jul 2, 12:0022.0N 117.7E60 kt985 mbTropical storm
Jul 2, 18:0022.6N 117.7E60 kt985 mbTropical storm
Jul 3, 00:0023.6N 117.9E60 kt985 mbTropical storm
Jul 3, 06:0024.6N 118.3E60 kt985 mbTropical storm
Jul 3, 12:0025.5N 118.5E40 kt980 mbTropical storm
Jul 3, 18:0027.0N 118.3E30 kt985 mbTropical storm
Jul 4, 00:0028.0N 118.0E20 kt1000 mbMixed
Jul 4, 06:0028.6N 117.9E20 kt1000 mbMixed
Jul 4, 12:0029.4N 117.8E15 kt1000 mbMixed
Jul 4, 18:0029.7N 117.4E15 kt1001 mbMixed
Jul 5, 00:0030.0N 117.0E10 kt1002 mbMixed
Jul 5, 06:0029.7N 116.0E10 kt1002 mbMixed
Jul 5, 12:0029.1N 114.6E10 kt1002 mbMixed
Jul 5, 18:0028.7N 113.5E10 kt1003 mbMixed
Jul 6, 00:0028.0N 112.0E15 kt1004 mbMixed

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.