Tropical Storm Elma (1991)

Basin

South Indian

Dates

February 26, 1991 to March 5, 1991

Peak strength

Tropical Storm, 60 kt (69 mph)

Lowest pressure

965 mb (28.50 inHg)

Landfall

No; closest approach 1597 km (992 mi)

Accumulated cyclone energy

4.9

Identifier

SH141991

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.

• Unnamed tropical depressionSouth Indian · 1991Tropical Depression30 kt
• Unnamed tropical depressionSouth Indian · 1991Tropical Depression30 kt
• Unnamed tropical stormSouth Indian · 1991Tropical Storm55 kt · 997 mb
• Tropical Storm LaurenceSouth Indian · 1991Tropical Storm35 kt · 992 mb
• Cyclone AlisonSouth Indian · 1991Cat 165 kt · 1002 mb
• Cyclone BellaSouth Indian · 1991Cat 4130 kt · 936 mb
• Tropical Storm ChrisSouth Indian · 1991Tropical Storm50 kt · 976 mb
• Tropical Storm CynthiaSouth Indian · 1991Tropical Storm50 kt · 970 mb
• Cyclone DebraSouth Indian · 1991Cat 290 kt · 966 mb
• Cyclone FatimaSouth Indian · 1991Cat 290 kt · 954 mb
• Cyclone ErrolSouth Indian · 1991Cat 3110 kt · 950 mb
• Unnamed tropical depressionSouth Indian · 1991Tropical Depression28 kt · 998 mb
• Cyclone MarianSouth Indian · 1991Cat 295 kt · 930 mb
• Tropical Storm FifiSouth Indian · 1991Tropical Storm55 kt · 975 mb
• Tropical Storm GritelleSouth Indian · 1991Tropical Storm40 kt · 984 mb

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.

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.