The 2009 season

Tropical Storm Ken (2009)

Tropical Storm Ken peaked at 60 kt in the South Pacific between March 16, 2009 and March 20, 2009, with a lowest pressure of 978 mb.

Track and intensity

The whole track of Tropical Storm Ken, colored by strength, with the other storms of the 2009 season in the same basin behind it, and its wind and pressure hour by hour. Every fix is in the track table below.

Open the live map with storms, cones and warnings

The storm

Basin
South Pacific
Dates
March 16, 2009 to March 20, 2009
Peak strength
Tropical Storm, 60 kt (69 mph)
Lowest pressure
978 mb (28.88 inHg)
Landfall
No; closest approach 1057 km (657 mi)
Accumulated cyclone energy
2.2
Identifier
SH212009

Deaths and damage

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

Track

Time (UTC)PositionWindPressureStatus
Mar 16, 00:0017.7S 163.2W20 kt1007 mbTropical depression
Mar 16, 06:0018.3S 163.2W25 kt1004 mbTropical depression
Mar 16, 12:0018.9S 163.1W30 kt1000 mbTropical depression
Mar 16, 18:0020.0S 163.0W35 kt996 mbTropical storm
Mar 17, 00:0021.2S 162.8W35 kt996 mbTropical storm
Mar 17, 06:0021.9S 162.7W35 kt996 mbTropical storm
Mar 17, 12:0022.3S 162.8W35 kt996 mbTropical storm
Mar 17, 18:0022.7S 162.9W35 kt996 mbTropical storm
Mar 18, 00:0023.1S 162.5W35 kt996 mbTropical storm
Mar 18, 06:0023.4S 161.9W35 kt996 mbTropical storm
Mar 18, 12:0023.9S 161.4W35 kt996 mbTropical storm
Mar 18, 18:0024.7S 160.9W50 kt985 mbTropical storm
Mar 19, 00:0025.8S 159.8W50 kt985 mbTropical storm
Mar 19, 06:0027.2S 158.8W50 kt985 mbTropical storm
Mar 19, 12:0029.2S 157.4W50 kt985 mbTropical storm
Mar 19, 18:0031.8S 155.4W50 kt985 mbTropical storm
Mar 20, 00:0035.0S 152.9W60 kt978 mbExtratropical
Mar 20, 06:0038.2S 150.3W60 kt978 mbExtratropical
Mar 20, 12:0041.0S 147.0W60 kt978 mbExtratropical

Other South Pacific storms of 2009

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.