Cyclone Vanessa (1976)

Basin

South Indian

Dates

January 15, 1976 to January 28, 1976

Peak strength

Cyclone, 90 kt (104 mph), ten-minute wind

Lowest pressure

950 mb (28.05 inHg)

Landfall

No; closest approach 33 km (21 mi)

Accumulated cyclone energy

0.7

Identifier

SH111976

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.

• Cyclone RaySouth Indian · 1976Cyclone70 kt · 973 mb
• Tropical Depression AudreySouth Indian · 1976Tropical Depression
• Cyclone JoanSouth Indian · 1976Cat 4125 kt · 915 mb
• Tropical Depression BarbaraSouth Indian · 1976Tropical Depression
• Tropical Storm SueSouth Indian · 1976Tropical Storm40 kt · 994 mb
• Tropical Depression ClotildeSouth Indian · 1976Tropical Depression
• Tropical Depression Danae:TerrySouth Indian · 1976Tropical Depression
• Cyclone WallySouth Indian · 1976Cyclone75 kt · 973 mb
• Tropical Storm AliceSouth Indian · 1976Tropical Storm50 kt · 988 mb
• Tropical Depression EllaSouth Indian · 1976Tropical Depression
• Tropical Storm LindaSouth Indian · 1976Tropical Storm40 kt · 995 mb
• Tropical Depression FrederiqueSouth Indian · 1976Tropical Depression
• Tropical Depression GladysSouth Indian · 1976Tropical Depression
• Tropical Depression Bert:HeliotropeSouth Indian · 1976Tropical Depression
• Tropical Storm CarolSouth Indian · 1976Tropical Storm45 kt · 991 mb

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.

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.