Cyclone Cecily (1974)

Cyclone Cecily peaked at 70 kt in the South Indian between December 11, 1973 and December 19, 1973, with a lowest pressure of 973 mb.

Track and intensity

The whole track of Cyclone Cecily, 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: South Indian
Dates: December 11, 1973 to December 19, 1973
Peak strength: Cyclone, 70 kt (81 mph), ten-minute wind
Lowest pressure: 973 mb (28.73 inHg)
Landfall: No; closest approach 660 km (410 mi)
Accumulated cyclone energy: 3.9
Identifier: 1973345S10100

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)	Position	Wind	Pressure	Status
Dec 11, 00:00	9.9S 100.1E			Tropical storm
Dec 11, 06:00	10.1S 100.0E	20 kt	1003 mb	Tropical storm
Dec 11, 12:00	10.3S 99.8E	25 kt	1002 mb	Tropical storm
Dec 11, 18:00	10.5S 99.6E	25 kt	1004 mb	Tropical storm
Dec 12, 00:00	10.6S 99.5E			Tropical storm
Dec 12, 06:00	10.9S 99.4E	25 kt	1002 mb	Tropical storm
Dec 12, 12:00	11.2S 99.5E	25 kt	998 mb	Tropical storm
Dec 12, 18:00	11.4S 99.6E	30 kt	996 mb	Tropical storm
Dec 13, 00:00	11.6S 99.8E			Tropical storm
Dec 13, 06:00	11.9S 99.5E	40 kt	992 mb	Tropical storm
Dec 13, 12:00	12.5S 99.0E	45 kt	988 mb	Tropical storm
Dec 13, 18:00	13.4S 98.1E	50 kt	984 mb	Tropical storm
Dec 14, 00:00	14.6S 97.0E			Tropical storm
Dec 14, 06:00	15.3S 96.1E	55 kt	980 mb	Tropical storm
Dec 14, 12:00	16.1S 95.5E	60 kt	976 mb	Tropical storm
Dec 14, 18:00	16.9S 95.0E	65 kt	974 mb	Tropical storm
Dec 15, 00:00	17.7S 94.7E			Tropical storm
Dec 15, 06:00	18.4S 94.4E	70 kt	973 mb	Tropical storm
Dec 15, 12:00	19.1S 94.0E	65 kt	980 mb	Tropical storm
Dec 15, 18:00	19.9S 93.8E	55 kt	985 mb	Tropical storm
Dec 16, 00:00	20.8S 93.7E			Tropical storm
Dec 16, 06:00	21.7S 93.9E	50 kt	988 mb	Tropical storm
Dec 16, 12:00	22.6S 94.4E	50 kt	993 mb	Tropical storm
Dec 16, 18:00	23.5S 94.9E	40 kt	993 mb	Tropical storm
Dec 17, 00:00	24.4S 95.3E			Tropical storm
Dec 17, 06:00	25.1S 95.5E	40 kt	994 mb	Tropical storm
Dec 17, 12:00	25.5S 95.5E	40 kt	999 mb	Tropical storm
Dec 17, 18:00	25.9S 95.5E	25 kt	1002 mb	Tropical storm
Dec 18, 00:00	26.4S 95.5E			Tropical storm
Dec 18, 06:00	27.2S 95.2E	25 kt	1002 mb	Tropical storm
Dec 18, 12:00	28.0S 94.6E	25 kt	1004 mb	Tropical storm
Dec 18, 18:00	28.5S 93.2E	25 kt	1004 mb	Tropical storm
Dec 19, 00:00	28.8S 91.5E			Tropical storm

Other South Indian 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. 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.