The 1975 season

Cyclone Tracy (1975)

Cyclone Tracy reached Category 2 in the South Pacific between December 20, 1974 and December 26, 1974, with a lowest pressure of 950 mb, and made landfall.

Track and intensity

The whole track of Cyclone Tracy, 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
December 20, 1974 to December 26, 1974
Peak strength
Category 2, 95 kt (109 mph)
Lowest pressure
950 mb (28.05 inHg)
Landfall
Yes
Accumulated cyclone energy
2.5
Identifier
SH071975

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
Dec 20, 00:008.1S 135.0E25 kt1000 mbTropical storm
Dec 20, 06:008.3S 134.5E25 kt998 mbTropical storm
Dec 20, 12:008.6S 134.0E25 kt998 mbTropical storm
Dec 20, 18:008.8S 133.5E30 kt995 mbTropical storm
Dec 21, 00:009.0S 133.0E35 kt992 mbTropical storm
Dec 21, 06:009.1S 132.5E40 kt990 mbTropical storm
Dec 21, 12:009.4S 132.0E10 ktTropical storm
Dec 21, 18:009.7S 131.3E25 kt985 mbTropical storm
Dec 22, 00:0010.0S 130.9E30 ktTropical storm
Dec 22, 06:0010.3S 130.8E30 kt980 mbTropical storm
Dec 22, 12:0010.5S 130.6E25 ktTropical storm
Dec 22, 18:0010.9S 130.5E30 kt970 mbTropical storm
Dec 23, 00:0011.2S 130.3E35 ktTropical storm
Dec 23, 06:0011.4S 130.2E35 kt955 mbTropical storm
Dec 23, 12:0011.5S 130.0E30 ktTropical storm
Dec 23, 18:0011.7S 129.9E45 kt955 mbTropical storm
Dec 24, 00:0011.9S 129.8E65 ktTropical storm
Dec 24, 06:0012.1S 130.0E55 kt950 mbTropical storm
Dec 24, 12:0012.2S 130.4E30 ktTropical storm
Dec 24, 18:0012.4S 130.9E95 kt950 mbTropical storm
Dec 25, 00:0012.5S 131.4ETropical storm
Dec 25, 06:0012.8S 132.0E35 kt994 mbTropical storm
Dec 25, 12:0013.2S 132.7E30 kt996 mbTropical storm
Dec 25, 18:0013.6S 133.4E25 kt998 mbTropical storm
Dec 26, 00:0014.0S 134.1E25 kt998 mbTropical 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.

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.