The 1975 season

Cyclone Betty (1975)

Cyclone Betty peaked at 70 kt in the South Pacific between March 30, 1975 and April 12, 1975, with a lowest pressure of 965 mb, and made landfall.

Track and intensity

The whole track of Cyclone Betty, colored by strength, with the other storms of the 1975 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 30, 1975 to April 12, 1975
Peak strength
Cyclone, 70 kt (81 mph), ten-minute wind
Lowest pressure
965 mb (28.50 inHg)
Landfall
Yes
Accumulated cyclone energy
4.2
Identifier
SH291975

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 30, 00:0017.1S 163.0ETropical storm
Mar 30, 06:0017.1S 164.0ETropical storm
Mar 30, 12:0017.0S 164.9ETropical storm
Mar 30, 18:0016.8S 165.7ETropical storm
Mar 31, 00:0016.5S 166.4E30 kt997 mbTropical storm
Mar 31, 06:0016.2S 166.0ETropical storm
Mar 31, 12:0015.8S 165.6E30 kt997 mbTropical storm
Mar 31, 18:0015.5S 166.2ETropical storm
Apr 1, 00:0015.2S 166.7E30 kt997 mbTropical storm
Apr 1, 06:0014.8S 167.1ETropical storm
Apr 1, 12:0014.3S 167.6E30 kt997 mbTropical storm
Apr 1, 18:0014.0S 168.2ETropical storm
Apr 2, 00:0013.9S 168.8E40 kt990 mbTropical storm
Apr 2, 06:0013.9S 169.2ETropical storm
Apr 2, 12:0014.0S 169.6E40 kt990 mbTropical storm
Apr 2, 18:0014.0S 169.9ETropical storm
Apr 3, 00:0014.1S 170.2E55 kt980 mbTropical storm
Apr 3, 06:0014.4S 170.6ETropical storm
Apr 3, 12:0014.9S 171.0E55 kt980 mbTropical storm
Apr 3, 18:0015.2S 171.3ETropical storm
Apr 4, 00:0015.5S 171.5E55 kt980 mbTropical storm
Apr 4, 06:0016.2S 171.9ETropical storm
Apr 4, 12:0016.9S 172.6E65 kt970 mbTropical storm
Apr 4, 18:0017.5S 173.5ETropical storm
Apr 5, 00:0018.0S 174.7E70 kt965 mbTropical storm
Apr 5, 06:0018.3S 176.3ETropical storm
Apr 5, 12:0018.7S 177.8E55 kt980 mbTropical storm
Apr 5, 18:0019.5S 178.8ETropical storm
Apr 6, 00:0020.4S 179.6E55 kt980 mbTropical storm
Apr 6, 06:0020.9S 179.7WTropical storm
Apr 6, 12:0021.3S 179.1W55 kt980 mbTropical storm
Apr 6, 18:0021.5S 178.2WTropical storm
Apr 7, 00:0021.4S 177.4W55 kt980 mbTropical storm
Apr 7, 06:0020.8S 177.2WTropical storm
Apr 7, 12:0020.1S 177.7W40 kt990 mbTropical storm
Apr 7, 18:0019.9S 178.5WTropical storm
Apr 8, 00:0020.0S 179.4W40 kt990 mbTropical storm
Apr 8, 06:0020.3S 179.6ETropical storm
Apr 8, 12:0020.7S 178.6E40 kt990 mbTropical storm
Apr 8, 18:0021.1S 177.8ETropical storm
Apr 9, 00:0021.7S 177.0E40 kt990 mbTropical storm
Apr 9, 06:0022.5S 176.2ETropical storm
Apr 9, 12:0023.6S 175.7E40 kt990 mbTropical storm
Apr 9, 18:0024.9S 175.6ETropical storm
Apr 10, 00:0026.0S 175.7E30 kt997 mbTropical storm
Apr 10, 06:0026.7S 175.8ETropical storm
Apr 10, 12:0027.5S 176.0E30 kt997 mbTropical storm
Apr 10, 18:0028.2S 176.1ETropical storm
Apr 11, 00:0029.0S 176.2E30 kt997 mbTropical storm
Apr 11, 06:0029.5S 176.8ETropical storm
Apr 11, 12:0029.9S 177.8E30 kt997 mbTropical storm
Apr 11, 18:0031.0S 178.9ETropical storm
Apr 12, 00:0032.1S 179.9E30 kt997 mbTropical storm
Apr 12, 06:0032.7S 179.1WTropical storm
Apr 12, 12:0032.9S 178.1WTropical storm

Other South Pacific storms of 1975

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.