The 2003 season

Cyclone Beni (2003)

Cyclone Beni reached Category 4 in the South Pacific between January 20, 2003 and February 5, 2003, with a lowest pressure of 916 mb, and made landfall.

Radar

Reflectivity now over Cyclone Beni. 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
January 20, 2003 to February 5, 2003
Peak strength
Category 4, 125 kt (144 mph)
Lowest pressure
916 mb (27.05 inHg)
Landfall
Yes
Accumulated cyclone energy
15.0
Tropical-storm-force wind reached
130 nmi (241 km, 150 mi) from the center at its widest
Eyewall radius at its peak
20 nmi (37 km, 23 mi)
Overall size
180 nmi (333 km, 207 mi) to the outermost closed isobar
Fastest the center moved
19 kt (22 mph)
Identifier
SH122003

Deaths and damage

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

Track

Time (UTC)PositionWindPressureStatus
Jan 20, 18:009.9S 163.1E15 kt1005 mbNot reported
Jan 21, 00:0010.0S 163.0E15 kt1005 mbNot reported
Jan 21, 06:0010.1S 162.9E15 kt1004 mbNot reported
Jan 21, 12:0010.2S 162.8E15 kt1004 mbNot reported
Jan 21, 18:0010.3S 162.7E15 kt1004 mbNot reported
Jan 22, 00:0010.4S 162.6E15 kt1004 mbNot reported
Jan 22, 06:0010.5S 162.5E20 kt1002 mbNot reported
Jan 22, 12:0010.7S 162.4E20 kt1002 mbNot reported
Jan 22, 18:0010.9S 162.2E20 kt1002 mbNot reported
Jan 23, 00:0011.1S 162.1E20 kt1002 mbNot reported
Jan 23, 06:0011.3S 161.9E25 kt1000 mbNot reported
Jan 23, 12:0011.6S 161.7E25 kt1000 mbNot reported
Jan 23, 18:0011.9S 161.6E25 kt999 mbNot reported
Jan 24, 00:0012.2S 161.5E25 kt999 mbNot reported
Jan 24, 06:0012.4S 161.4E30 kt997 mbNot reported
Jan 24, 12:0012.9S 162.0E20 kt1004 mbTropical depression
Jan 24, 18:0013.0S 161.7E25 kt1002 mbTropical depression
Jan 25, 00:0013.1S 161.4E30 kt1000 mbTropical depression
Jan 25, 06:0013.1S 161.1E35 kt997 mbTropical storm
Jan 25, 12:0012.9S 160.9E35 kt997 mbTropical storm
Jan 25, 18:0012.6S 160.8E35 kt997 mbTropical storm
Jan 26, 00:0012.4S 161.0E40 kt994 mbTropical storm
Jan 26, 06:0012.4S 161.3E45 kt991 mbTropical storm
Jan 26, 12:0012.7S 161.3E50 kt987 mbTropical storm
Jan 26, 18:0012.9S 161.1E55 kt984 mbTropical storm
Jan 27, 00:0013.0S 160.8E55 kt984 mbTropical storm
Jan 27, 06:0013.4S 160.7E55 kt984 mbTropical storm
Jan 27, 12:0013.8S 160.8E55 kt984 mbTropical storm
Jan 27, 18:0014.2S 160.6E60 kt980 mbTropical storm
Jan 28, 00:0014.7S 160.7E75 kt967 mbTyphoon
Jan 28, 06:0015.2S 160.8E80 kt963 mbTyphoon
Jan 28, 12:0015.6S 161.1E90 kt954 mbTyphoon
Jan 28, 18:0016.0S 161.8E115 kt927 mbTyphoon
Jan 29, 00:0016.5S 162.7E125 kt916 mbTyphoon
Jan 29, 06:0017.1S 163.7E125 kt916 mbTyphoon
Jan 29, 12:0017.8S 164.9E125 kt916 mbTyphoon
Jan 29, 18:0018.3S 166.2E115 kt927 mbTyphoon
Jan 30, 00:0019.1S 167.7E105 kt938 mbTyphoon
Jan 30, 06:0019.9S 168.8E90 kt954 mbTyphoon
Jan 30, 12:0020.8S 169.3E75 kt967 mbTyphoon
Jan 30, 18:0021.6S 169.0E60 kt980 mbTropical storm
Jan 31, 00:0022.3S 168.0E40 kt994 mbTropical storm
Jan 31, 06:0023.1S 166.8E35 kt997 mbTropical storm
Jan 31, 12:0024.1S 165.2E30 kt1000 mbTropical depression
Jan 31, 18:0024.3S 163.1E30 kt1000 mbTropical depression
Feb 1, 00:0023.8S 161.7E25 kt1002 mbTropical depression
Feb 1, 06:0023.4S 160.6E25 kt1002 mbTropical depression
Feb 1, 12:0023.1S 159.6E25 kt1002 mbTropical depression
Feb 1, 18:0022.6S 158.7E25 kt1002 mbTropical depression
Feb 2, 00:0022.3S 158.0E25 kt1002 mbTropical depression
Feb 2, 06:0022.0S 157.4E25 kt1002 mbTropical depression
Feb 2, 12:0021.5S 156.6E25 kt1002 mbTropical depression
Feb 2, 18:0021.1S 155.8E25 kt1002 mbTropical depression
Feb 3, 00:0020.9S 154.7E25 kt1002 mbTropical depression
Feb 3, 06:0020.5S 153.7E25 kt1002 mbTropical depression
Feb 3, 12:0020.3S 153.2E25 kt1002 mbTropical depression
Feb 3, 18:0020.5S 152.7E25 kt1000 mbTropical depression
Feb 4, 00:0020.7S 152.1E20 kt1004 mbTropical depression
Feb 4, 06:0020.6S 151.3E20 kt1004 mbTropical depression
Feb 4, 12:0020.2S 150.6E20 kt1004 mbTropical depression
Feb 4, 18:0019.9S 150.2E20 kt1004 mbTropical depression
Feb 5, 00:0020.1S 149.7E20 kt1004 mbTropical depression

Other South Pacific storms of 2003

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.