The 1976 season

Tropical Storm Kim (1976)

Tropical Storm Kim peaked at 45 kt in the South Pacific between December 1, 1975 and December 10, 1975, with a lowest pressure of 990 mb, and made landfall.

Radar

Reflectivity now over Tropical Storm Kim. Open it to see storms, cones and warnings on the map.

Open the live radar with storms, cones and warnings

Radar mosaic and map layers from NOAA MRMS. Boundaries from the Iowa Environmental Mesonet.

The storm

Basin
South Pacific
Dates
December 1, 1975 to December 10, 1975
Peak strength
Tropical Storm, 45 kt (52 mph)
Lowest pressure
990 mb (29.23 inHg)
Landfall
Yes
Accumulated cyclone energy
1.4
Identifier
SH051976

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 1, 00:0010.5S 135.8E25 ktTropical storm
Dec 1, 06:0011.0S 136.4E25 ktTropical storm
Dec 1, 12:0011.2S 136.7E20 ktTropical storm
Dec 1, 18:0011.1S 136.8E20 ktTropical storm
Dec 2, 00:0011.0S 136.8E20 kt1000 mbTropical storm
Dec 2, 06:0011.1S 136.9E25 ktTropical storm
Dec 2, 12:0011.4S 137.0E25 kt995 mbTropical storm
Dec 2, 18:0012.0S 137.1E25 ktTropical storm
Dec 3, 00:0012.6S 137.1E25 kt992 mbTropical storm
Dec 3, 06:0012.5S 137.0E35 ktTropical storm
Dec 3, 12:0012.3S 136.8E45 kt996 mbTropical storm
Dec 3, 18:0012.5S 136.4E40 ktTropical storm
Dec 4, 00:0012.6S 136.1E30 kt1000 mbTropical storm
Dec 4, 06:0012.4S 135.9E30 ktTropical storm
Dec 4, 12:0012.2S 135.8E30 kt1000 mbTropical storm
Dec 4, 18:0012.2S 135.6E25 ktTropical storm
Dec 5, 00:0012.2S 135.4E25 kt1000 mbTropical storm
Dec 5, 06:0012.3S 134.7E25 ktTropical storm
Dec 5, 12:0012.6S 133.8E25 kt1000 mbTropical storm
Dec 5, 18:0013.0S 133.4E25 ktTropical storm
Dec 6, 00:0013.4S 133.2E25 kt1000 mbTropical storm
Dec 6, 06:0014.0S 133.1E30 ktTropical storm
Dec 6, 12:0014.5S 133.3E30 ktTropical storm
Dec 6, 18:0014.8S 133.9E25 ktTropical storm
Dec 7, 00:0014.7S 134.6E25 ktTropical storm
Dec 7, 06:0014.5S 135.1E25 ktTropical storm
Dec 7, 12:0014.2S 135.5E30 ktTropical storm
Dec 7, 18:0013.9S 135.7E30 ktTropical storm
Dec 8, 00:0013.5S 136.0E30 ktTropical storm
Dec 8, 06:0013.1S 136.6E30 ktTropical storm
Dec 8, 12:0012.7S 137.3E35 ktTropical storm
Dec 8, 18:0012.4S 138.0E35 ktTropical storm
Dec 9, 00:0012.3S 138.7E40 ktTropical storm
Dec 9, 06:0012.4S 139.5E40 ktTropical storm
Dec 9, 12:0012.9S 140.4E45 ktTropical storm
Dec 9, 18:0013.8S 141.1E40 ktTropical storm
Dec 10, 00:0015.1S 141.8E30 ktTropical storm
Dec 10, 06:0015.6S 142.5ETropical storm
Dec 10, 12:0015.9S 142.5E25 kt1000 mbTropical storm

Other South Pacific storms of 1976

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.