The 1974 season

Tropical Storm Hester (1974)

Tropical Storm Hester peaked at 35 kt in the Western Pacific between November 10, 1974 and November 15, 1974, with a lowest pressure of 1000 mb, and made landfall.

Track and intensity

The whole track of Tropical Storm Hester, 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
November 10, 1974 to November 15, 1974
Peak strength
Tropical Storm, 35 kt (40 mph)
Lowest pressure
1000 mb (29.53 inHg)
Landfall
Yes
Accumulated cyclone energy
0.4
Identifier
WP321974

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
Nov 10, 12:009.0N 135.0EDisturbance
Nov 10, 18:009.3N 132.4EDisturbance
Nov 11, 00:009.7N 129.6EDisturbance
Nov 11, 06:009.9N 128.6EDisturbance
Nov 11, 12:0010.2N 127.8EDisturbance
Nov 11, 18:0010.5N 126.9EDisturbance
Nov 12, 00:0010.8N 126.0EDisturbance
Nov 12, 06:0011.2N 124.8EDisturbance
Nov 12, 12:0011.9N 123.9EDisturbance
Nov 12, 18:0012.1N 122.9E1008 mbMixed
Nov 13, 00:0012.3N 121.2E25 kt1008 mbMixed
Nov 13, 06:0012.5N 120.1E25 kt1008 mbTropical storm
Nov 13, 12:0012.7N 119.0E25 kt1008 mbTropical storm
Nov 13, 18:0012.9N 118.0E25 kt1004 mbTropical storm
Nov 14, 00:0013.0N 116.9E30 kt1004 mbTropical storm
Nov 14, 06:0013.0N 115.6E30 kt1004 mbTropical storm
Nov 14, 12:0013.1N 114.2E30 kt1004 mbTropical storm
Nov 14, 18:0013.1N 112.7E35 kt1004 mbTropical storm
Nov 15, 00:0013.1N 111.3E35 kt1004 mbTropical storm
Nov 15, 06:0012.9N 109.5E35 kt1000 mbTropical storm
Nov 15, 12:0012.7N 107.8E20 ktTropical storm

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.