The 1974 season

Cyclone Zoe (1974)

Cyclone Zoe peaked at 75 kt in the South Pacific between March 5, 1974 and March 20, 1974, with a lowest pressure of 968 mb, and made landfall.

Track and intensity

The whole track of Cyclone Zoe, 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 Pacific
Dates
March 5, 1974 to March 20, 1974
Peak strength
Cyclone, 75 kt (86 mph), ten-minute wind
Lowest pressure
968 mb (28.59 inHg)
Landfall
Yes
Accumulated cyclone energy
2.4
Identifier
SH271974

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
Mar 5, 00:0019.0S 151.0ETropical storm
Mar 5, 06:0019.0S 151.3ETropical storm
Mar 5, 12:0019.1S 151.7ETropical storm
Mar 5, 18:0019.1S 152.0ETropical storm
Mar 6, 00:0019.2S 152.4ETropical storm
Mar 6, 06:0019.3S 153.4ETropical storm
Mar 6, 12:0019.4S 154.7ETropical storm
Mar 6, 18:0019.8S 155.8ETropical storm
Mar 7, 00:0020.3S 156.6ETropical storm
Mar 7, 06:0020.6S 156.9ETropical storm
Mar 7, 12:0020.9S 156.9ETropical storm
Mar 7, 18:0021.1S 156.9ETropical storm
Mar 8, 00:0021.4S 156.8ETropical storm
Mar 8, 06:0021.6S 156.6ETropical storm
Mar 8, 12:0021.9S 156.4ETropical storm
Mar 8, 18:0022.0S 156.1ETropical storm
Mar 9, 00:0022.0S 155.7ETropical storm
Mar 9, 06:0021.7S 155.5ETropical storm
Mar 9, 12:0021.3S 155.4ETropical storm
Mar 9, 18:0021.0S 155.5ETropical storm
Mar 10, 00:0021.0S 155.6ETropical storm
Mar 10, 06:0021.5S 155.7ETropical storm
Mar 10, 12:0022.0S 155.7ETropical storm
Mar 10, 18:0022.4S 155.6ETropical storm
Mar 11, 00:0022.8S 155.2ETropical storm
Mar 11, 06:0023.4S 154.4ETropical storm
Mar 11, 12:0024.1S 153.6ETropical storm
Mar 11, 18:0025.0S 153.4ETropical storm
Mar 12, 00:0026.0S 153.4ETropical storm
Mar 12, 06:0026.8S 153.4ETropical storm
Mar 12, 12:0027.6S 153.5ETropical storm
Mar 12, 18:0027.7S 153.6ETropical storm
Mar 13, 00:0027.9S 153.7E50 kt986 mbTropical storm
Mar 13, 06:0029.8S 154.4ETropical storm
Mar 13, 12:0031.9S 155.8ETropical storm
Mar 13, 18:0032.8S 157.8ETropical storm
Mar 14, 00:0033.3S 159.5ETropical storm
Mar 14, 06:0033.4S 160.4ETropical storm
Mar 14, 12:0033.6S 161.2E40 kt990 mbTropical storm
Mar 14, 18:0033.8S 162.1ETropical storm
Mar 15, 00:0034.0S 163.0E40 kt990 mbTropical storm
Mar 15, 06:0034.5S 163.6ETropical storm
Mar 15, 12:0035.2S 164.0E55 kt980 mbTropical storm
Mar 15, 18:0036.2S 164.6ETropical storm
Mar 16, 00:0036.9S 165.4E55 kt980 mbTropical storm
Mar 16, 06:0036.6S 166.9ETropical storm
Mar 16, 12:0035.8S 168.6E55 kt980 mbTropical storm
Mar 16, 18:0034.9S 169.8ETropical storm
Mar 17, 00:0034.2S 170.9E55 kt980 mbTropical storm
Mar 17, 06:0033.9S 171.9ETropical storm
Mar 17, 12:0033.9S 173.0ETropical storm
Mar 17, 18:0033.9S 174.5ETropical storm
Mar 18, 00:0034.1S 176.0E40 kt990 mbTropical storm
Mar 18, 06:0034.6S 177.6ETropical storm
Mar 18, 12:0035.3S 179.1E40 kt990 mbTropical storm
Mar 18, 18:0036.0S 179.5WTropical storm
Mar 19, 00:0037.1S 178.2W40 kt990 mbTropical storm
Mar 19, 06:0038.5S 177.1WTropical storm
Mar 19, 12:0040.0S 176.3W40 kt990 mbTropical storm
Mar 19, 18:0041.4S 176.2WTropical storm
Mar 20, 00:0042.9S 176.2WTropical storm
Mar 20, 06:0044.4S 174.2WTropical storm
Mar 20, 12:0046.1S 170.5WTropical storm

Other South 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. 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.