The 1998 season

Cyclone Elsie (1998)

Cyclone Elsie reached Category 2 in the South Indian between March 4, 1998 and March 20, 1998, with a lowest pressure of 975 mb.

Track and intensity

The whole track of Cyclone Elsie, colored by strength, with the other storms of the 1998 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
March 4, 1998 to March 20, 1998
Peak strength
Category 2, 90 kt (104 mph)
Lowest pressure
975 mb (28.79 inHg)
Landfall
No; closest approach 1082 km (672 mi)
Accumulated cyclone energy
7.6
Identifier
SH271998

Deaths and damage

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

Track

Time (UTC)PositionWindPressureStatus
Mar 4, 18:009.0S 92.5E20 ktNot reported
Mar 5, 00:009.1S 92.3E20 ktNot reported
Mar 5, 06:009.2S 92.2E20 ktNot reported
Mar 5, 12:009.3S 92.1E20 ktNot reported
Mar 5, 18:009.4S 92.1E20 ktNot reported
Mar 6, 00:009.5S 92.0E20 ktNot reported
Mar 6, 06:009.6S 92.0E20 ktNot reported
Mar 6, 12:009.7S 91.9E20 ktNot reported
Mar 6, 18:009.8S 91.9E20 ktNot reported
Mar 7, 00:009.9S 91.8E20 ktNot reported
Mar 7, 06:0010.1S 91.7E20 ktNot reported
Mar 7, 12:0010.3S 91.6E20 ktNot reported
Mar 7, 18:0010.4S 91.6E20 ktNot reported
Mar 8, 00:0010.8S 91.3E20 ktTropical storm
Mar 8, 06:0011.3S 91.1E20 ktTropical storm
Mar 8, 12:0011.7S 90.8E20 ktTropical storm
Mar 8, 18:0012.1S 90.5E20 ktTropical storm
Mar 9, 00:0012.5S 90.2E20 kt1005 mbTropical storm
Mar 9, 06:0012.8S 89.7E20 kt1005 mbTropical storm
Mar 9, 12:0013.0S 89.4E25 kt1005 mbTropical storm
Mar 9, 18:0013.1S 89.0E25 kt1005 mbTropical storm
Mar 10, 00:0013.2S 88.3E25 kt1005 mbTropical storm
Mar 10, 06:0013.3S 87.6E25 kt1005 mbTropical storm
Mar 10, 12:0013.5S 86.8E25 kt1004 mbTropical storm
Mar 10, 18:0013.8S 86.2E25 kt1004 mbTropical storm
Mar 11, 00:0014.3S 85.4E25 kt1002 mbTropical storm
Mar 11, 06:0015.0S 84.6E25 kt1002 mbTropical storm
Mar 11, 12:0015.7S 83.9E30 kt1000 mbTropical storm
Mar 11, 18:0016.4S 83.2E30 kt1000 mbTropical storm
Mar 12, 00:0017.2S 82.5E35 kt997 mbTropical storm
Mar 12, 06:0017.8S 82.0E40 kt992 mbTropical storm
Mar 12, 12:0018.4S 81.7E50 kt985 mbTropical storm
Mar 12, 18:0018.9S 81.4E60 kt975 mbTropical storm
Mar 13, 00:0019.4S 81.2E90 kt975 mbTropical storm
Mar 13, 06:0019.8S 81.1E90 kt975 mbTropical storm
Mar 13, 12:0020.1S 81.1E90 kt978 mbTropical storm
Mar 13, 18:0020.4S 81.1E75 kt983 mbTropical storm
Mar 14, 00:0020.6S 80.9E75 kt985 mbTropical storm
Mar 14, 06:0020.8S 80.7E70 kt987 mbTropical storm
Mar 14, 12:0021.0S 80.4E65 kt990 mbTropical storm
Mar 14, 18:0021.2S 80.0E60 kt992 mbTropical storm
Mar 15, 00:0021.4S 79.3E50 kt995 mbTropical storm
Mar 15, 06:0021.8S 78.5E45 kt997 mbTropical storm
Mar 15, 12:0022.1S 78.2E45 kt998 mbTropical storm
Mar 15, 18:0022.6S 78.0E45 kt1000 mbTropical storm
Mar 16, 00:0023.1S 77.8E40 kt1000 mbTropical storm
Mar 16, 06:0023.8S 77.5E35 kt1002 mbTropical storm
Mar 16, 12:0024.3S 77.2E35 kt1002 mbTropical storm
Mar 16, 18:0025.1S 77.2E35 kt1003 mbTropical storm
Mar 17, 00:0025.6S 77.7E35 kt1004 mbTropical storm
Mar 17, 06:0025.7S 78.2E35 kt1005 mbTropical storm
Mar 17, 12:0025.6S 78.9E35 kt1005 mbTropical storm
Mar 17, 18:0025.3S 79.7E35 kt1005 mbTropical storm
Mar 18, 00:0024.7S 80.6E30 kt1005 mbTropical storm
Mar 18, 06:0023.9S 81.5E30 kt1006 mbMixed
Mar 18, 12:0023.2S 82.1E25 kt1006 mbMixed
Mar 18, 18:0022.8S 82.6E25 kt1006 mbMixed
Mar 19, 00:0021.3S 80.4E1007 mbMixed
Mar 19, 06:0020.4S 79.4E1007 mbMixed
Mar 19, 12:0019.5S 78.3E1007 mbMixed
Mar 19, 18:0019.1S 77.8E1008 mbMixed
Mar 20, 00:0018.8S 77.5E1008 mbMixed
Mar 20, 06:0018.6S 77.1E1010 mbMixed

Other South Indian storms of 1998

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.