The 1996 season

Tropical Storm Ethel (1996)

Tropical Storm Ethel peaked at 45 kt in the South Pacific between March 7, 1996 and March 17, 1996, with a lowest pressure of 980 mb, and made landfall.

Track and intensity

The whole track of Tropical Storm Ethel, colored by strength, with the other storms of the 1996 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
March 7, 1996 to March 17, 1996
Peak strength
Tropical Storm, 45 kt (52 mph)
Lowest pressure
980 mb (28.94 inHg)
Landfall
Yes
Accumulated cyclone energy
3.8
Identifier
SH191996

Deaths and damage

No source this site reads carries a casualty or damage figure for this storm.

Track

Time (UTC)PositionWindPressureStatus
Mar 7, 06:0015.6S 137.5E15 ktTropical storm
Mar 7, 12:0015.4S 138.0E20 ktTropical storm
Mar 7, 18:0015.3S 138.4E20 ktTropical storm
Mar 8, 00:0015.4S 138.8E20 ktTropical storm
Mar 8, 06:0015.2S 139.2E25 kt998 mbTropical storm
Mar 8, 12:0014.9S 139.7E30 kt995 mbTropical storm
Mar 8, 18:0014.3S 140.1E35 kt993 mbTropical storm
Mar 9, 00:0013.6S 140.2E40 kt990 mbTropical storm
Mar 9, 06:0013.1S 140.6E40 kt987 mbTropical storm
Mar 9, 12:0012.8S 141.3E40 kt985 mbTropical storm
Mar 9, 18:0012.6S 141.9E45 kt980 mbTropical storm
Mar 10, 00:0012.5S 142.6E45 kt993 mbTropical storm
Mar 10, 06:0012.6S 143.7E45 kt990 mbTropical storm
Mar 10, 12:0012.8S 144.6E45 kt990 mbTropical storm
Mar 10, 18:0013.0S 145.1E45 kt990 mbTropical storm
Mar 11, 00:0013.2S 145.5E45 kt990 mbTropical storm
Mar 11, 06:0013.8S 145.9E45 kt990 mbTropical storm
Mar 11, 12:0014.2S 146.0E45 kt988 mbTropical storm
Mar 11, 18:0014.6S 145.7E45 kt982 mbTropical storm
Mar 12, 00:0014.7S 143.7E45 kt985 mbTropical storm
Mar 12, 06:0014.7S 142.6E45 kt995 mbTropical storm
Mar 12, 12:0014.6S 141.2E45 kt992 mbTropical storm
Mar 12, 18:0015.1S 139.5E45 kt988 mbTropical storm
Mar 13, 00:0015.9S 137.9E45 kt985 mbTropical storm
Mar 13, 06:0016.8S 136.0E35 kt995 mbTropical storm
Mar 13, 12:0017.8S 134.3E35 ktTropical storm
Mar 13, 18:0019.2S 133.5E35 ktTropical storm
Mar 14, 00:0020.6S 133.4E30 ktTropical storm
Mar 14, 06:0022.2S 133.8E25 ktTropical storm
Mar 14, 12:0023.4S 135.3E25 ktTropical storm
Mar 14, 18:0024.1S 137.0E25 ktTropical storm
Mar 15, 00:0024.5S 138.6E25 ktTropical storm
Mar 15, 06:0024.9S 140.2E25 ktTropical storm
Mar 15, 12:0024.9S 142.3E25 ktTropical storm
Mar 15, 18:0024.6S 144.3E25 ktTropical storm
Mar 16, 00:0023.9S 146.1E20 ktTropical storm
Mar 16, 06:0023.2S 147.4E20 ktTropical storm
Mar 16, 12:0022.3S 148.6E15 ktTropical storm
Mar 16, 18:0021.1S 150.2E15 ktTropical storm
Mar 17, 00:0019.8S 152.0E15 ktTropical storm

Other South Pacific storms of 1996

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.