The 1983 season

Tropical Storm Thelma (1983)

Tropical Storm Thelma peaked at 55 kt in the Western Pacific between December 13, 1983 and December 18, 1983, with a lowest pressure of 990 mb.

Track and intensity

The whole track of Tropical Storm Thelma, 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
Western Pacific
Dates
December 13, 1983 to December 18, 1983
Peak strength
Tropical Storm, 55 kt (63 mph)
Lowest pressure
990 mb (29.23 inHg)
Landfall
No; closest approach 871 km (541 mi)
Accumulated cyclone energy
1.6
Identifier
WP241983

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 13, 00:006.0N 154.0EDisturbance
Dec 13, 06:006.3N 152.4EDisturbance
Dec 13, 12:006.7N 150.8EDisturbance
Dec 13, 18:007.1N 149.0EDisturbance
Dec 14, 00:007.5N 147.0EDisturbance
Dec 14, 06:008.0N 144.8EDisturbance
Dec 14, 12:008.6N 142.8E20 ktTropical storm
Dec 14, 18:009.3N 141.2E20 ktTropical storm
Dec 15, 00:0010.0N 139.8E25 ktTropical storm
Dec 15, 06:0010.8N 138.5E25 kt1006 mbTropical storm
Dec 15, 12:0011.4N 137.2E30 kt1004 mbTropical storm
Dec 15, 18:0011.8N 135.9E35 kt1000 mbTropical storm
Dec 16, 00:0012.2N 134.8E40 kt996 mbTropical storm
Dec 16, 06:0012.9N 133.9E45 kt994 mbTropical storm
Dec 16, 12:0013.5N 133.6E45 kt994 mbTropical storm
Dec 16, 18:0014.1N 133.4E50 kt992 mbTropical storm
Dec 17, 00:0014.7N 133.3E55 kt990 mbTropical storm
Dec 17, 06:0015.2N 133.3E45 kt994 mbTropical storm
Dec 17, 12:0016.1N 133.8E35 kt996 mbTropical storm
Dec 17, 18:0016.8N 135.1E30 kt998 mbTropical storm
Dec 18, 00:0017.3N 137.2E25 kt1000 mbTropical storm
Dec 18, 06:0017.6N 140.0E15 kt1004 mbTropical storm
Dec 18, 12:0019.0N 144.0E1006 mbTropical storm

Other Western 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.