The 1983 season

Tropical Storm Prema (1983)

Tropical Storm Prema peaked at 41 kt in the South Pacific between February 25, 1983 and March 6, 1983, with a lowest pressure of 987 mb.

Track and intensity

The whole track of Tropical Storm Prema, 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.

Open the live map with storms, cones and warnings

The storm

Basin
South Pacific
Dates
February 25, 1983 to March 6, 1983
Peak strength
Tropical Storm, 41 kt (47 mph)
Lowest pressure
987 mb (29.15 inHg)
Landfall
No; closest approach 597 km (371 mi)
Accumulated cyclone energy
1.0
Identifier
SH151983

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 25, 00:0011.1S 167.4W20 ktTropical storm
Feb 25, 06:0011.3S 166.3W22 ktTropical storm
Feb 25, 12:0011.6S 165.4W25 kt997 mbTropical storm
Feb 25, 18:0011.7S 164.5W27 ktTropical storm
Feb 26, 00:0011.9S 163.6W30 kt990 mbTropical storm
Feb 26, 06:0012.0S 162.3W32 ktTropical storm
Feb 26, 12:0012.3S 161.1W35 kt987 mbTropical storm
Feb 26, 18:0012.5S 159.8W37 ktTropical storm
Feb 27, 00:0012.8S 158.6W40 kt987 mbTropical storm
Feb 27, 06:0013.0S 157.7W41 ktTropical storm
Feb 27, 12:0013.3S 157.1W40 kt990 mbTropical storm
Feb 27, 18:0013.5S 156.5W37 ktTropical storm
Feb 28, 00:0013.8S 155.9W35 kt997 mbTropical storm
Feb 28, 06:0014.2S 155.1W32 ktTropical storm
Feb 28, 12:0014.9S 154.2W30 kt997 mbTropical storm
Feb 28, 18:0015.6S 153.2W27 ktTropical storm
Mar 1, 00:0016.5S 152.2W25 kt997 mbTropical storm
Mar 1, 06:0017.4S 151.0W24 ktTropical storm
Mar 1, 12:0018.3S 149.9W24 kt997 mbTropical storm
Mar 1, 18:0019.1S 149.1W23 ktTropical storm
Mar 2, 00:0020.0S 148.7W20 kt997 mbTropical storm
Mar 2, 06:0019.4S 149.4WNot reported
Mar 2, 12:0020.0S 149.9W30 kt997 mbNot reported
Mar 2, 18:0021.2S 150.2WNot reported
Mar 3, 00:0022.5S 150.3W30 kt997 mbNot reported
Mar 3, 06:0023.4S 150.3WNot reported
Mar 3, 12:0024.0S 150.3W30 kt997 mbNot reported
Mar 3, 18:0024.3S 150.3WNot reported
Mar 4, 00:0024.4S 150.4W30 kt997 mbNot reported
Mar 4, 06:0024.7S 150.5WNot reported
Mar 4, 12:0025.0S 150.5W30 kt997 mbNot reported
Mar 4, 18:0025.2S 150.5WNot reported
Mar 5, 00:0025.4S 150.6W30 kt997 mbNot reported
Mar 5, 06:0025.6S 150.7WNot reported
Mar 5, 12:0025.7S 150.8W30 kt997 mbNot reported
Mar 5, 18:0025.8S 150.9WNot reported
Mar 6, 00:0026.0S 151.0W30 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.