The 2003 season

Tropical Storm Fili (2003)

Tropical Storm Fili peaked at 45 kt in the South Pacific between April 13, 2003 and April 15, 2003, with a lowest pressure of 997 mb.

Track and intensity

The whole track of Tropical Storm Fili, colored by strength, with the other storms of the 2003 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 Pacific
Dates
April 13, 2003 to April 15, 2003
Peak strength
Tropical Storm, 45 kt (52 mph)
Lowest pressure
997 mb (29.44 inHg)
Landfall
No; closest approach 257 km (160 mi)
Accumulated cyclone energy
0.7
Identifier
SH272003

Deaths and damage

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

Track

Time (UTC)PositionWindPressureStatus
Apr 13, 00:0013.5S 179.6W20 kt1009 mbTropical depression
Apr 13, 06:0013.8S 179.3W25 kt1009 mbTropical depression
Apr 13, 12:0014.2S 178.9W25 kt1009 mbTropical depression
Apr 13, 18:0014.6S 178.2W30 kt1000 mbTropical depression
Apr 14, 00:0015.3S 177.0W30 kt1000 mbTropical depression
Apr 14, 06:0016.0S 175.7W35 kt997 mbTropical storm
Apr 14, 12:0017.6S 174.0W35 kt997 mbTropical storm
Apr 14, 18:0020.2S 172.2W40 kt1002 mbTropical storm
Apr 15, 00:0024.4S 170.6W45 kt1000 mbTropical storm
Apr 15, 06:0029.3S 169.7W35 kt1005 mbTropical storm
Apr 15, 12:0029.4S 170.6W30 kt997 mbNot reported

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.