The 2015 season

Cyclone Lam (2015)

Cyclone Lam reached Category 3 in the South Pacific between February 15, 2015 and February 21, 2015, with a lowest pressure of 948 mb, and made landfall.

Track and intensity

The whole track of Cyclone Lam, colored by strength, with the other storms of the 2015 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
February 15, 2015 to February 21, 2015
Peak strength
Category 3, 100 kt (115 mph)
Lowest pressure
948 mb (27.99 inHg)
Landfall
Yes
Accumulated cyclone energy
6.6
Identifier
SH122015

Deaths and damage

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

Track

Time (UTC)PositionWindPressureStatus
Feb 15, 12:0012.0S 142.1E25 kt1002 mbTropical storm
Feb 15, 18:0012.0S 141.3E25 kt1002 mbTropical storm
Feb 16, 00:0011.2S 140.2E25 kt1002 mbTropical storm
Feb 16, 06:0011.6S 140.0E25 kt1004 mbTropical depression
Feb 16, 12:0011.5S 139.7E30 kt1000 mbTropical depression
Feb 16, 18:0011.5S 139.5E35 kt996 mbTropical storm
Feb 17, 00:0011.4S 139.2E45 kt989 mbTropical storm
Feb 17, 06:0011.4S 138.8E55 kt982 mbTropical storm
Feb 17, 12:0011.4S 138.5E60 kt978 mbTropical storm
Feb 17, 18:0011.3S 137.8E60 kt978 mbTropical storm
Feb 18, 00:0011.2S 137.2E65 kt974 mbTyphoon
Feb 18, 06:0011.0S 136.7E70 kt970 mbTyphoon
Feb 18, 12:0011.0S 136.4E70 kt970 mbTyphoon
Feb 18, 18:0011.2S 136.1E75 kt967 mbTyphoon
Feb 19, 00:0011.4S 135.9E80 kt963 mbTyphoon
Feb 19, 06:0011.7S 135.7E90 kt956 mbTyphoon
Feb 19, 12:0012.0S 135.3E100 kt948 mbTyphoon
Feb 19, 18:0012.4S 135.0E65 kt974 mbTyphoon
Feb 20, 00:0013.0S 134.6E50 kt985 mbTropical storm
Feb 20, 06:0014.0S 133.9E40 kt993 mbTropical storm
Feb 20, 12:0014.7S 132.9E30 kt1000 mbTropical depression
Feb 20, 18:0015.4S 132.2E25 kt1002 mbTropical storm
Feb 21, 00:0015.9S 131.8E25 kt1002 mbTropical storm

Other South Pacific storms of 2015

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.