The 1983 season

Cyclone Oscar (1983)

Cyclone Oscar reached Category 3 in the South Pacific between February 22, 1983 and March 6, 1983, with a lowest pressure of 920 mb.

Track and intensity

The whole track of Cyclone Oscar, colored by strength, with the other storms of the 1983 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
February 22, 1983 to March 6, 1983
Peak strength
Category 3, 100 kt (115 mph)
Lowest pressure
920 mb (27.17 inHg)
Landfall
No; closest approach 33 km (21 mi)
Accumulated cyclone energy
16.5
Fastest the center moved
29 kt (33 mph)
Identifier
SH141983

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
Feb 22, 18:0014.5S 179.2E25 ktTropical storm
Feb 23, 00:0015.2S 178.4E25 ktTropical storm
Feb 23, 06:0015.3S 177.6E25 ktTropical storm
Feb 23, 12:0015.0S 176.9E25 kt997 mbTropical storm
Feb 23, 18:0014.6S 176.3E25 ktTropical storm
Feb 24, 00:0014.3S 175.7E25 kt997 mbTropical storm
Feb 24, 06:0014.1S 175.2E25 ktTropical storm
Feb 24, 12:0014.0S 174.8E30 kt997 mbTropical storm
Feb 24, 18:0013.8S 174.6E40 ktTropical storm
Feb 25, 00:0013.7S 174.4E40 kt990 mbTropical storm
Feb 25, 06:0013.5S 174.2E45 ktTropical storm
Feb 25, 12:0013.4S 174.0E50 kt987 mbTropical storm
Feb 25, 18:0013.4S 173.7E55 ktTropical storm
Feb 26, 00:0013.5S 173.5E55 kt985 mbTropical storm
Feb 26, 06:0013.7S 173.3E60 ktTropical storm
Feb 26, 12:0013.9S 173.2E60 kt975 mbTropical storm
Feb 26, 18:0014.1S 173.3E65 ktTropical storm
Feb 27, 00:0014.5S 173.4E65 kt965 mbTropical storm
Feb 27, 06:0015.0S 173.6E70 ktTropical storm
Feb 27, 12:0015.7S 174.0E75 kt955 mbTropical storm
Feb 27, 18:0016.3S 174.5E80 ktTropical storm
Feb 28, 00:0016.7S 174.7E85 kt930 mbTropical storm
Feb 28, 06:0017.1S 174.9E90 ktTropical storm
Feb 28, 12:0017.5S 175.4E95 kt920 mbTropical storm
Feb 28, 18:0017.9S 175.9E100 ktTropical storm
Mar 1, 00:0018.1S 176.3E100 kt925 mbTropical storm
Mar 1, 06:0018.2S 176.8E100 ktTropical storm
Mar 1, 12:0018.5S 177.5E100 kt930 mbTropical storm
Mar 1, 18:0018.8S 178.1E100 ktTropical storm
Mar 2, 00:0019.3S 178.5E90 kt955 mbTropical storm
Mar 2, 06:0019.9S 178.9E75 ktTropical storm
Mar 2, 12:0020.6S 179.2E70 kt975 mbTropical storm
Mar 2, 18:0021.4S 179.5E65 ktTropical storm
Mar 3, 00:0022.1S 179.7E65 kt985 mbTropical storm
Mar 3, 06:0023.0S 180.0E65 ktTropical storm
Mar 3, 12:0024.2S 179.5W65 kt987 mbTropical storm
Mar 3, 18:0025.5S 178.6W60 ktTropical storm
Mar 4, 00:0026.7S 177.6W50 kt990 mbTropical storm
Mar 4, 06:0027.9S 176.4W35 ktTropical storm
Mar 4, 12:0029.5S 187.5E35 kt995 mbNot reported
Mar 4, 18:0030.3S 190.1ENot reported
Mar 5, 00:0030.7S 192.5E30 kt997 mbNot reported
Mar 5, 06:0030.6S 194.0ENot reported
Mar 5, 12:0030.2S 195.1E30 kt997 mbNot reported
Mar 5, 18:0029.9S 196.1ENot reported
Mar 6, 00:0029.5S 197.0E30 kt997 mbNot reported
Mar 6, 06:0029.0S 198.0ENot reported
Mar 6, 12:0028.5S 199.0E30 kt997 mbNot reported

Other South Pacific storms of 1983

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.