The 1977 season

Cyclone Leo (1977)

Cyclone Leo reached Category 2 in the South Indian between March 24, 1977 and March 28, 1977, with a lowest pressure of 960 mb, and made landfall.

Track and intensity

The whole track of Cyclone Leo, colored by strength, with the other storms of the 1977 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 Indian
Dates
March 24, 1977 to March 28, 1977
Peak strength
Category 2, 90 kt (104 mph)
Lowest pressure
960 mb (28.35 inHg)
Landfall
Yes
Accumulated cyclone energy
5.4
Identifier
SH231977

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 24, 00:0015.0S 124.5E25 ktTropical storm
Mar 24, 06:0015.2S 123.8E30 ktTropical storm
Mar 24, 12:0015.5S 123.0E35 ktTropical storm
Mar 24, 18:0016.0S 122.2E35 ktTropical storm
Mar 25, 00:0016.5S 121.3E40 ktTropical storm
Mar 25, 06:0016.9S 120.5E50 ktTropical storm
Mar 25, 12:0017.3S 119.8E65 ktTropical storm
Mar 25, 18:0017.7S 119.3E75 ktTropical storm
Mar 26, 00:0018.2S 118.9E85 ktTropical storm
Mar 26, 06:0018.9S 118.7E90 ktTropical storm
Mar 26, 12:0019.6S 118.7E90 ktTropical storm
Mar 26, 18:0020.1S 118.9E80 ktTropical storm
Mar 27, 00:0020.6S 119.3E65 ktTropical storm
Mar 27, 06:0021.1S 120.0E50 ktTropical storm
Mar 27, 12:0021.5S 120.9E35 ktTropical storm
Mar 27, 18:0021.8S 121.8E30 ktTropical storm
Mar 28, 00:0021.8S 122.8E30 ktTropical storm

Other South Indian storms of 1977

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.