The 1997 season

Tropical Storm Nicholas (1997)

Tropical Storm Nicholas peaked at 45 kt in the South Indian between December 10, 1996 and December 17, 1996, with a lowest pressure of 985 mb, and made landfall.

Track and intensity

The whole track of Tropical Storm Nicholas, colored by strength, with the other storms of the 1997 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
December 10, 1996 to December 17, 1996
Peak strength
Tropical Storm, 45 kt (52 mph)
Lowest pressure
985 mb (29.09 inHg)
Landfall
Yes
Accumulated cyclone energy
1.3
Identifier
SH101997

Deaths and damage

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

Track

Time (UTC)PositionWindPressureStatus
Dec 10, 12:008.7S 129.0E20 ktTropical storm
Dec 10, 18:008.9S 128.2E20 ktTropical storm
Dec 11, 00:009.2S 127.4E20 ktTropical storm
Dec 11, 06:009.5S 126.7E20 ktTropical storm
Dec 11, 12:009.8S 126.2E20 ktTropical storm
Dec 11, 18:0010.2S 125.8E20 ktTropical storm
Dec 12, 00:0010.6S 125.4E20 ktTropical storm
Dec 12, 06:0010.9S 125.1E20 ktTropical storm
Dec 12, 12:0011.2S 124.9E20 kt1000 mbTropical storm
Dec 12, 18:0011.6S 124.7E25 kt1000 mbTropical storm
Dec 13, 00:0012.0S 124.4E30 kt998 mbTropical storm
Dec 13, 06:0012.6S 124.1E35 kt996 mbTropical storm
Dec 13, 12:0013.3S 123.9E35 kt996 mbTropical storm
Dec 13, 18:0014.0S 123.8E40 kt992 mbTropical storm
Dec 14, 00:0014.7S 123.8E45 kt988 mbTropical storm
Dec 14, 06:0015.4S 123.8E45 kt985 mbTropical storm
Dec 14, 12:0016.1S 123.8E45 kt987 mbTropical storm
Dec 14, 18:0016.7S 123.7E45 kt993 mbTropical storm
Dec 15, 00:0017.2S 123.4E35 kt995 mbTropical storm
Dec 15, 06:0017.6S 123.4E30 kt995 mbTropical storm
Dec 15, 12:0018.1S 123.7E30 kt997 mbTropical storm
Dec 15, 18:0018.6S 124.0E30 kt998 mbTropical storm
Dec 16, 00:0019.0S 124.4E25 kt999 mbTropical storm
Dec 16, 06:0019.3S 124.9E25 kt1000 mbTropical storm
Dec 16, 12:0019.5S 125.5E25 ktTropical storm
Dec 16, 18:0019.6S 126.1E25 ktTropical storm
Dec 17, 00:0019.9S 126.6E20 ktTropical storm
Dec 17, 06:0020.3S 127.1E15 ktTropical storm

Other South Indian storms of 1997

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.