The 1997 season

Cyclone Rachel (1997)

Cyclone Rachel reached Category 1 in the South Pacific between December 30, 1996 and January 11, 1997, with a lowest pressure of 965 mb, and made landfall.

Radar

Reflectivity now over Cyclone Rachel. Open it to see storms, cones and warnings on the map.

Open the live radar with storms, cones and warnings

Radar mosaic and map layers from NOAA MRMS. Boundaries from the Iowa Environmental Mesonet.

The storm

Basin
South Pacific
Dates
December 30, 1996 to January 11, 1997
Peak strength
Category 1, 80 kt (92 mph)
Lowest pressure
965 mb (28.50 inHg)
Landfall
Yes
Accumulated cyclone energy
7.2
Identifier
SH151997

Deaths and damage

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

Track

Time (UTC)PositionWindPressureStatus
Dec 30, 00:0014.9S 137.1E15 ktTropical storm
Dec 30, 06:0014.7S 136.5E15 ktTropical storm
Dec 30, 12:0014.5S 135.9E15 ktTropical storm
Dec 30, 18:0014.3S 135.4E15 ktTropical storm
Dec 31, 00:0014.0S 135.0E15 ktTropical storm
Dec 31, 06:0013.6S 134.6E20 ktTropical storm
Dec 31, 12:0013.2S 134.1E20 ktTropical storm
Dec 31, 18:0012.8S 133.7E20 ktTropical storm
Jan 1, 00:0012.5S 133.3E25 kt1002 mbTropical storm
Jan 1, 06:0012.2S 133.0E25 kt1000 mbTropical storm
Jan 1, 12:0011.9S 132.7E25 kt1000 mbTropical storm
Jan 1, 18:0011.6S 132.3E25 kt1000 mbTropical storm
Jan 2, 00:0011.3S 131.9E30 kt1000 mbTropical storm
Jan 2, 06:0011.1S 131.4E30 kt998 mbTropical storm
Jan 2, 12:0011.0S 130.9E30 kt996 mbTropical storm
Jan 2, 18:0011.2S 130.2E35 kt996 mbTropical storm
Jan 3, 00:0011.7S 129.5E40 kt990 mbTropical storm
Jan 3, 06:0012.2S 128.7E45 kt988 mbTropical storm
Jan 3, 12:0012.8S 128.0E50 kt986 mbTropical storm
Jan 3, 18:0013.3S 127.2E55 kt982 mbTropical storm
Jan 4, 00:0013.8S 126.3E55 kt988 mbTropical storm
Jan 4, 06:0014.3S 125.4E50 kt992 mbTropical storm
Jan 4, 12:0015.0S 124.7E45 kt994 mbTropical storm
Jan 4, 18:0015.6S 124.0E45 kt993 mbTropical storm
Jan 5, 00:0016.1S 123.2E50 kt992 mbTropical storm
Jan 5, 06:0016.4S 122.4E55 kt990 mbTropical storm
Jan 5, 12:0017.0S 121.8E55 kt988 mbTropical storm
Jan 5, 18:0017.4S 121.3E55 kt985 mbTropical storm
Jan 6, 00:0017.8S 120.8E55 kt976 mbTropical storm
Jan 6, 06:0018.1S 120.3E60 kt966 mbTropical storm
Jan 6, 12:0018.4S 119.8E70 kt965 mbTropical storm
Jan 6, 18:0018.9S 119.2E80 kt965 mbTropical storm
Jan 7, 00:0019.4S 118.7E80 kt965 mbTropical storm
Jan 7, 06:0020.1S 118.6E75 kt968 mbTropical storm
Jan 7, 12:0020.8S 118.5E65 kt977 mbTropical storm
Jan 7, 18:0021.7S 118.5E55 kt983 mbTropical storm
Jan 8, 00:0022.6S 118.4E45 kt989 mbTropical storm
Jan 8, 06:0023.5S 118.6E35 kt992 mbTropical storm
Jan 8, 12:0024.2S 118.9E30 kt995 mbTropical storm
Jan 8, 18:0024.8S 119.4E30 kt995 mbTropical storm
Jan 9, 00:0025.5S 119.8E30 kt997 mbTropical storm
Jan 9, 06:0026.0S 120.3E30 kt997 mbTropical storm
Jan 9, 12:0026.5S 120.9E30 kt1001 mbTropical storm
Jan 9, 18:0027.2S 121.4E25 kt1002 mbTropical storm
Jan 10, 00:0027.8S 121.9E25 kt1002 mbTropical storm
Jan 10, 06:0028.3S 122.3E25 ktTropical storm
Jan 10, 12:0028.7S 122.9E25 ktTropical storm
Jan 10, 18:0029.1S 123.5E25 ktTropical storm
Jan 11, 00:0029.3S 124.2E20 ktTropical storm
Jan 11, 06:0029.5S 124.9E20 ktTropical storm
Jan 11, 12:0029.6S 125.6E15 ktTropical storm

Other South Pacific 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.