The 1984 season

Cyclone Kathy (1984)

Cyclone Kathy reached Category 4 in the South Pacific between March 16, 1984 and March 24, 1984, with a lowest pressure of 920 mb, and made landfall.

Track and intensity

The whole track of Cyclone Kathy, colored by strength, with the other storms of the 1984 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
March 16, 1984 to March 24, 1984
Peak strength
Category 4, 125 kt (144 mph)
Lowest pressure
920 mb (27.17 inHg)
Landfall
Yes
Accumulated cyclone energy
12.6
Fastest the center moved
11 kt (13 mph)
Identifier
SH301984

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 16, 18:0012.0S 148.5E20 kt1006 mbTropical storm
Mar 17, 00:0012.0S 148.3E20 kt1008 mbTropical storm
Mar 17, 06:0012.0S 148.1E20 kt1005 mbTropical storm
Mar 17, 12:0012.0S 147.9E20 kt1006 mbTropical storm
Mar 17, 18:0012.0S 147.7E20 kt1004 mbTropical storm
Mar 18, 00:0012.0S 147.4E30 kt1000 mbTropical storm
Mar 18, 06:0012.0S 147.0E40 kt990 mbTropical storm
Mar 18, 12:0012.0S 146.4E40 kt990 mbTropical storm
Mar 18, 18:0012.1S 145.5E40 kt990 mbTropical storm
Mar 19, 00:0012.2S 144.6E40 kt990 mbTropical storm
Mar 19, 06:0012.3S 143.9E40 kt990 mbTropical storm
Mar 19, 12:0012.1S 143.3E30 kt990 mbTropical storm
Mar 19, 18:0012.1S 142.2E30 kt998 mbTropical storm
Mar 20, 00:0012.3S 141.2E30 kt995 mbTropical storm
Mar 20, 06:0012.7S 140.4E35 kt992 mbTropical storm
Mar 20, 12:0013.0S 139.8E40 kt990 mbTropical storm
Mar 20, 18:0013.2S 139.4E45 kt984 mbTropical storm
Mar 21, 00:0013.4S 139.1E55 kt976 mbTropical storm
Mar 21, 06:0013.6S 138.9E70 kt965 mbTropical storm
Mar 21, 12:0013.8S 138.6E85 kt955 mbTropical storm
Mar 21, 18:0014.2S 138.4E105 kt945 mbTropical storm
Mar 22, 00:0014.6S 138.1E120 kt939 mbTropical storm
Mar 22, 06:0014.9S 137.9E125 ktTropical storm
Mar 22, 12:0015.2S 137.6E125 ktTropical storm
Mar 22, 18:0015.5S 137.0E125 ktTropical storm
Mar 23, 00:0015.8S 136.3E115 ktTropical storm
Mar 23, 06:0016.2S 135.8E95 ktTropical storm
Mar 23, 12:0016.8S 135.4E55 ktTropical storm
Mar 23, 18:0017.3S 134.5ETropical storm
Mar 24, 00:0018.1S 134.1ETropical storm

Other South Pacific storms of 1984

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.