The 2003 season

Cyclone Luma (2003)

Cyclone Luma peaked at 70 kt in the South Indian between April 8, 2003 and April 12, 2003, with a lowest pressure of 980 mb.

Track and intensity

The whole track of Cyclone Luma, 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 Indian
Dates
April 8, 2003 to April 12, 2003
Peak strength
Cyclone, 70 kt (81 mph), ten-minute wind
Lowest pressure
980 mb (28.94 inHg)
Landfall
No; closest approach 223 km (139 mi)
Accumulated cyclone energy
0.0
Identifier
2003098S23041

Deaths and damage

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

Track

Time (UTC)PositionWindPressureStatus
Apr 8, 00:0023.4S 40.7E20 kt1005 mbTropical storm
Apr 8, 06:0024.3S 40.6E20 kt1005 mbTropical storm
Apr 8, 12:0025.2S 40.0E25 kt1004 mbTropical storm
Apr 8, 18:0025.4S 39.6E30 kt1002 mbSubtropical storm
Apr 9, 00:0025.6S 39.3E30 kt1002 mbSubtropical storm
Apr 9, 06:0025.8S 39.2E30 kt1002 mbSubtropical storm
Apr 9, 12:0025.7S 40.1E30 kt1002 mbSubtropical storm
Apr 9, 18:0026.0S 41.6E33 kt1000 mbSubtropical storm
Apr 10, 00:0027.0S 43.2E38 kt996 mbSubtropical storm
Apr 10, 06:0028.0S 45.0E45 kt992 mbSubtropical storm
Apr 10, 12:0029.2S 47.0E50 kt988 mbSubtropical storm
Apr 10, 18:0030.1S 49.6E50 kt988 mbSubtropical storm
Apr 11, 00:0031.2S 52.6E60 kt984 mbSubtropical storm
Apr 11, 06:0032.5S 56.0E70 kt980 mbSubtropical storm
Apr 11, 12:0034.2S 60.2E55 kt987 mbExtratropical
Apr 11, 18:0036.1S 65.1E45 kt992 mbExtratropical
Apr 12, 00:0038.5S 70.4E40 kt997 mbExtratropical

Other South Indian 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. This storm’s winds are ten-minute averages from its regional agency. They read about 12 percent lower than the one-minute winds US agencies use, so a Saffir-Simpson category is not given for it.

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.