The 1991 season

Tropical Storm Cynthia (1991)

Tropical Storm Cynthia peaked at 50 kt in the South Indian between February 16, 1991 and February 19, 1991, with a lowest pressure of 970 mb, and made landfall.

Track and intensity

The whole track of Tropical Storm Cynthia, colored by strength, with the other storms of the 1991 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
February 16, 1991 to February 19, 1991
Peak strength
Tropical Storm, 50 kt (58 mph)
Lowest pressure
970 mb (28.64 inHg)
Landfall
Yes
Accumulated cyclone energy
1.1
Identifier
SH101991

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 16, 00:0016.0S 40.6E25 ktTropical storm
Feb 16, 06:0016.9S 40.6E30 kt1000 mbTropical storm
Feb 16, 12:0017.6S 41.2E30 kt994 mbTropical storm
Feb 16, 18:0018.0S 42.2E35 kt986 mbTropical storm
Feb 17, 00:0018.5S 43.0E40 kt978 mbTropical storm
Feb 17, 06:0019.1S 43.6E45 kt970 mbTropical storm
Feb 17, 12:0019.8S 44.2E50 kt980 mbTropical storm
Feb 17, 18:0020.5S 44.7E45 kt985 mbTropical storm
Feb 18, 00:0021.3S 45.0E40 kt990 mbTropical storm
Feb 18, 06:0022.1S 45.1E30 kt994 mbTropical storm
Feb 18, 12:0022.9S 44.5E998 mbTropical storm
Feb 18, 18:0023.4S 44.2E998 mbTropical storm
Feb 19, 00:0023.8S 43.8E1000 mbTropical storm
Feb 19, 06:0024.1S 43.2E24 kt1000 mbDisturbance

Other South Indian storms of 1991

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.