EASTERN PACIFIC · SEASON MAP

1973 Pacific hurricane season

Every recorded track, mapped · 12 storms · 2 Jun 1973–9 Oct 1973

ACCUMULATED CYCLONE ENERGY114.6
1973 Pacific hurricane season: every recorded storm trackRecorded tracks of all 12 storms, colored by the wind category at each observation. Hover or focus a storm in the table to highlight its track.UNITED STATESMEXICOCUBACHINAJAPANPHILIPPINESINDIAGulf of MexicoAtlantic OceanPacific OceanPhilippine SeaArabian SeaBay of BengalAva: 2 Jun–11 Jun, peak 140 kt, Category 5Bernice: 22 Jun–23 Jun, peak 60 kt, Tropical stormClaudia: 26 Jun–29 Jun, peak 55 kt, Tropical stormDoreen: 18 Jul–3 Aug, peak 120 kt, Category 4Emily: 21 Jul–28 Jul, peak 120 kt, Category 4Florence: 25 Jul–30 Jul, peak 80 kt, Category 1Glenda: 30 Jul–5 Aug, peak 50 kt, Tropical stormHeather: 31 Aug–1 Sep, peak 45 kt, Tropical stormIrah: 22 Sep–26 Sep, peak 95 kt, Category 2Jennifer: 23 Sep–27 Sep, peak 35 kt, Tropical stormKatherine: 29 Sep–9 Oct, peak 85 kt, Category 2Lillian: 5 Oct–9 Oct, peak 75 kt, Category 1

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Whole season

DepressionTropical stormCat 1Cat 2Cat 3Cat 4Cat 5Post-tropical
Every storm of the 1973 Pacific hurricane season. Column headers sort the list.
Ava140Cat 59152,290
Bernice60Tropical storm410
Claudia55Tropical storm999570
Doreen120Cat 49684,100
Emily120Cat 49721,650
Florence80Cat 19951,230
Glenda50Tropical storm1,580
Heather45Tropical storm180
Irah95Cat 29551,160
Jennifer35Tropical storm980
Katherine85Cat 29782,430
Lillian75Cat 19901,040

12 storms with an IBTrACS 1973 hurricane season record. Tracks are the archived center positions, first observation 2 Jun 1973, last 9 Oct 1973.

Tropical storms12

Tropical-stage US-agency wind of 34 kt or more

Hurricanes7

64 kt or more, one-minute sustained

Major (Category 3+)3

96 kt or more, Saffir–Simpson scale

Category 51

137 kt or more at any tropical-stage observation

Strongest stormAva

140 kt · 161 mph / 259 km/h

Lowest pressure915 hPa

Ava, 6 Jun 1973

Longest track record16 days

Doreen, full archive record

Storms without US-agency wind0

Mapped, but outside the counts above

QUICK ANSWERS

The 1973 season in brief

How many hurricanes were there in the 1973 Pacific hurricane season?

The archive records 7 hurricanes (one-minute winds of 64 kt or more) among 12 tropical storms, with 3 major hurricanes reaching 96 kt. Counts use US-agency winds during the tropical stage.

What was the strongest storm of the 1973 Pacific hurricane season?

Ava, with a peak one-minute sustained wind of 140 kt (Category 5) on 7 Jun 1973, 00:00 UTC and a minimum central pressure of 915 hPa.

How many Category 5 storms were there in 1973?

1 storm in the 1973 Pacific hurricane season reached Category 5 on the Saffir–Simpson one-minute wind scale: Ava.

When did the 1973 Pacific hurricane season start and end?

The first tropical-stage observation is on 2 Jun 1973 and the last on 9 Oct 1973, from 12 tracked storms in the archive.

What was the first hurricane of the 1973 Pacific hurricane season?

Ava, which reached hurricane strength (64 kt) on 3 Jun 1973, 21:00 UTC.

METHODOLOGY

Data sources and limitations

The map and totals are generated from NOAA’s IBTrACS v04r01 archive. A storm belongs to this page when the archive lists it in the Eastern Pacific basin for the 1973 season, so a December storm whose track ends in January stays with its season. Storms that cross between basins appear on the page of their archive basin only.

Counts use US-agency one-minute winds during the tropical stage: 34 kt for a tropical storm, 64 kt for hurricane strength and 96 kt for major intensity, on the Saffir–Simpson scale in every basin. Local agencies classify storms differently, and official season summaries can differ from the archive. Accumulated cyclone energy sums squared winds at six-hourly synoptic times, counting observations in the calendar year. Storms with no US-agency wind are mapped but cannot enter the counts.

The map frame is the same for every Eastern Pacific season, so a track that leaves it is cut at the edge. Lines show each storm’s center, not its size, rainfall or flood extent. Coastlines use Natural Earth’s 1:10m land data.

Archive retrieved

NOAA IBTrACS archive · Field documentation

Sources & methodology