The 1974 season

Tropical Storm Babe (1974)

Tropical Storm Babe peaked at 60 kt in the Western Pacific between April 25, 1974 and May 4, 1974, with a lowest pressure of 985 mb.

Track and intensity

The whole track of Tropical Storm Babe, colored by strength, with the other storms of the 1974 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
April 25, 1974 to May 4, 1974
Peak strength
Tropical Storm, 60 kt (69 mph)
Lowest pressure
985 mb (29.09 inHg)
Landfall
No; closest approach 878 km (546 mi)
Accumulated cyclone energy
4.3
Identifier
WP031974

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 25, 00:007.1N 150.0E20 ktTropical storm
Apr 25, 06:007.7N 149.3E20 ktTropical storm
Apr 25, 12:008.3N 148.6E20 kt1004 mbTropical storm
Apr 25, 18:008.9N 147.9E20 kt1002 mbTropical storm
Apr 26, 00:009.5N 147.2E20 kt1002 mbMixed
Apr 26, 06:0010.3N 146.4E20 kt1002 mbXX
Apr 26, 12:0011.3N 145.7E25 kt1002 mbXX
Apr 26, 18:0012.1N 145.4E25 kt1000 mbXX
Apr 27, 00:0012.6N 145.3E25 kt1000 mbXX
Apr 27, 06:0013.3N 145.5E25 kt998 mbXX
Apr 27, 12:0014.1N 145.8E25 kt996 mbXX
Apr 27, 18:0015.0N 145.9E30 kt996 mbTropical storm
Apr 28, 00:0015.7N 145.8E30 kt996 mbTropical storm
Apr 28, 06:0016.3N 145.6E30 kt996 mbTropical storm
Apr 28, 12:0016.9N 145.5E30 kt996 mbTropical storm
Apr 28, 18:0017.6N 145.4E30 kt996 mbTropical storm
Apr 29, 00:0018.3N 145.2E35 kt996 mbTropical storm
Apr 29, 06:0018.7N 145.1E40 kt990 mbTropical storm
Apr 29, 12:0019.2N 144.9E45 kt988 mbTropical storm
Apr 29, 18:0019.7N 144.8E50 kt985 mbTropical storm
Apr 30, 00:0020.1N 144.6E55 kt985 mbTropical storm
Apr 30, 06:0020.8N 144.5E60 kt985 mbTropical storm
Apr 30, 12:0021.5N 144.6E60 kt985 mbTropical storm
Apr 30, 18:0022.4N 145.2E60 kt985 mbTropical storm
May 1, 00:0023.2N 145.8E55 kt985 mbTropical storm
May 1, 06:0024.8N 147.0E55 kt985 mbTropical storm
May 1, 12:0026.5N 148.0E50 kt985 mbTropical storm
May 1, 18:0028.5N 149.2E50 kt990 mbTropical storm
May 2, 00:0030.5N 151.7E45 kt994 mbMixed
May 2, 06:0032.2N 154.3E45 kt996 mbMixed
May 2, 12:0034.3N 157.2E40 kt996 mbMixed
May 2, 18:0036.5N 161.5E40 kt996 mbMixed
May 3, 00:0039.0N 166.0E35 kt992 mbMixed
May 3, 06:0041.5N 170.0E35 kt988 mbMixed
May 3, 12:0044.0N 173.0E35 kt988 mbMixed
May 3, 18:0045.5N 177.4E988 mbExtratropical
May 4, 00:0047.2N 182.5EExtratropical

Other Western Pacific storms of 1974

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.