The 1973 Pacific typhoon season has no official bounds; it ran year-round in 1973, but most

tropical cyclones A tropical cyclone is a rapidly rotating storm system characterized by a low-pressure center, a closed low-level atmospheric circulation, strong winds, and a spiral arrangement of thunderstorms that produce heavy rain and squalls. Depend ...

tend to form in the northwestern Pacific Ocean between June and December. These dates conventionally delimit the period of each year when most tropical cyclones form in the northwestern Pacific Ocean. The scope of this article is limited to the Pacific Ocean, north of the equator and west of the

international date line The International Date Line (IDL) is an internationally accepted demarcation on the surface of Earth, running between the South and North Poles and serving as the boundary between one calendar day and the next. It passes through the Pacific O ...

. Storms that form east of the date line and north of the equator are called hurricanes; see

1973 Pacific hurricane season The 1973 Pacific hurricane season was an event in tropical cyclone meteorology. The most important system this year was Hurricane Ava, which was the most intense Pacific hurricane known at the time. Several other much weaker tropical cyclones cam ...

. Tropical Storms formed in the entire west pacific basin were assigned a name by the

Joint Typhoon Warning Center The Joint typhoon Warning Center (JTWC) is a joint United States Navy – United States Air Force command in Pearl Harbor, Hawaii. The JTWC is responsible for the issuing of tropical cyclone warnings in the North-West Pacific Ocean, South P ...

. Tropical depressions in this basin have the "W" suffix added to their number. Tropical depressions that enter or form in the Philippine area of responsibility are assigned a name by the

Philippine Atmospheric, Geophysical and Astronomical Services Administration Pagasa may refer to: * ''Pagasa'' (genus), an insect genus in the family Nabidae * PAGASA, an acronym for the Philippine Atmospheric, Geophysical and Astronomical Services Administration *"May Pagasa", a pen-name of José Rizal José Prot ...

or PAGASA. This can often result in the same storm having two names.

Season summary

ImageSize = width:1050 height:245 PlotArea = top:10 bottom:80 right:20 left:20 Legend = columns:3 left:30 top:58 columnwidth:270 AlignBars = early DateFormat = dd/mm/yyyy Period = from:01/05/1973 till:31/12/1973 TimeAxis = orientation:horizontal ScaleMinor = grid:black unit:month increment:1 start:01/06/1973 Colors = id:canvas value:gray(0.88) id:GP value:red id:TD value:rgb(0.38,0.73,1) legend:Tropical_Depression_=_<62_km/h_(<39_mph) id:TS value:rgb(0,0.98,0.96) legend:Tropical_Storm_=_63-88_km/h_(39-54_mph) id:ST value:rgb(0.80,1,1) legend:Severe_Tropical_Storm_=_89-117_km/h_(55-73_mph) id:TY value:rgb(0.99,0.69,0.6) legend:Typhoon_=_>118_km/h_(>74_mph) Backgroundcolors = canvas:canvas BarData = barset:Hurricane bar:Month PlotData= barset:Hurricane width:10 align:left fontsize:S shift:(4,-4) anchor:till from:12/05/1973 till:12/05/1973 color:TD text:"TD" from:28/06/1973 till:06/07/1973 color:ST text:"Wilda" from:04/07/1973 till:10/07/1973 color:TY text:"Anita" from:11/07/1973 till:19/07/1973 color:TY text:"Billie" from:11/07/1973 till:21/07/1973 color:TY text:"Dot" from:12/07/1973 till:15/07/1973 color:ST text:"Cecil" from:16/07/1973 till:29/07/1973 color:TY text:"Ellen" from:16/07/1973 till:16/07/1973 color:TD text:"TD" from:23/07/1973 till:30/07/1973 color:TS text:"Fran" from:05/08/1973 till:15/08/1973 color:TY text:"Georgia" from:05/08/1973 till:06/08/1973 color:TD text:"TD" barset:break from:06/08/1973 till:21/08/1973 color:TY text:"Iris" from:08/08/1973 till:13/08/1973 color:TS text:"Hope" from:10/08/1973 till:18/08/1973 color:TD text:"11W" from:16/08/1973 till:18/08/1973 color:TD text:"TD" from:18/08/1973 till:22/08/1973 color:TS text:"Joan" from:20/08/1973 till:20/08/1973 color:TD text:"TD" from:20/08/1973 till:26/08/1973 color:ST text:"Kate" from:24/08/1973 till:28/08/1973 color:TD text:"TD" from:28/08/1973 till:03/09/1973 color:TD text:"14W" from:30/08/1973 till:06/09/1973 color:TY text:"Louise" from:04/09/1973 till:04/09/1973 color:TD text:"TD" barset:break from:10/09/1973 till:15/09/1973 color:TY text:"

Marge Marge is a feminine given name, a shortened form of Marjorie, Margot or Margaret (name), Margaret. Notable Marges include: People *Marge (cartoonist) (1904–1993), pen name of Marjorie Henderson Buell, American cartoonist *Marge Anderson (1932� ...

" from:20/09/1973 till:21/09/1973 color:TD text:"TD" from:01/10/1973 till:10/10/1973 color:TY text:"

Nora Nora, NORA, or Norah may refer to: * Nora (name), a feminine given name People with the surname * Arlind Nora (born 1980), Albanian footballer * Pierre Nora (born 1931), French historian Places Australia * Norah Head, New South Wales, headland ...

" from:03/10/1973 till:08/10/1973 color:TY text:"Opal" from:05/10/1973 till:15/10/1973 color:TY text:"Patsy" from:10/10/1973 till:12/10/1973 color:TD text:"TD" from:11/10/1973 till:19/10/1973 color:TY text:"Ruth" from:13/10/1973 till:15/10/1973 color:TD text:"TD" from:17/10/1973 till:18/10/1973 color:TD text:"TD" from:17/10/1973 till:20/10/1973 color:TD text:"TD" from:27/10/1973 till:01/11/1973 color:TD text:"TD" barset:break from:31/10/1973 till:03/11/1973 color:TD text:"TD" from:09/11/1973 till:12/11/1973 color:ST text:"Sarah" from:13/11/1973 till:18/11/1973 color:ST text:"Thelma" from:18/11/1973 till:26/11/1973 color:ST text:"Vera" from:25/12/1973 till:26/12/1973 color:TD text:"TD" from:26/12/1973 till:27/12/1973 color:TD text:"TD" bar:Month width:5 align:center fontsize:S shift:(0,-20) anchor:middle color:canvas from:01/05/1973 till:31/05/1973 text:May from:01/06/1973 till:30/06/1973 text:June from:01/07/1973 till:31/07/1973 text:July from:01/08/1973 till:31/08/1973 text:August from:01/09/1973 till:30/09/1973 text:September from:01/10/1973 till:31/10/1973 text:October from:01/11/1973 till:30/11/1973 text:November from:01/12/1973 till:31/12/1973 text:December

Systems

25 tropical depressions formed this year in the Western Pacific, of which 21 became tropical storms. 12 storms reached typhoon intensity, of which 3 reached super typhoon strength.

Severe Tropical Storm Wilda (Atring)

Tropical Storm Wilda formed as a disturbance east of the Philippines. It traveled northwest and became a tropical depression as it made landfall on Luzon on June 30th. It crossed the island, and became a tropical storm as it entered the South China Sea on the 1st of July. It traveled north and made landfall in southern China on the 3rd. The remnants of Wilda dissipated inland a few days later.

Typhoon Anita

Typhoon Billie (Bining)

Tropical Storm Billie, which developed on July 12 east of the

Philippines The Philippines (; fil, Pilipinas, links=no), officially the Republic of the Philippines ( fil, Republika ng Pilipinas, links=no), * bik, Republika kan Filipinas * ceb, Republika sa Pilipinas * cbk, República de Filipinas * hil, Republ ...

, rapidly strengthened on the 14th and 15th to a 150 mph super typhoon. It tracked due north, fluctuating in intensity for the next 3 days. A building ridge over the

Sea of Japan The Sea of Japan is the marginal sea between the Japanese archipelago, Sakhalin, the Korean Peninsula, and the mainland of the Russian Far East. The Japanese archipelago separates the sea from the Pacific Ocean. Like the Mediterranean Sea, it h ...

forced Billie to the northwest, where it weakened greatly, first to a tropical storm on the 18th, then to a tropical depression on the 19th as it passed over northeastern China. The storm dissipated on the 20th.

Typhoon Dot

Typhoon Dot struck Hong Kong causing sustained storm force winds, killing one person.

Severe Tropical Storm Clara

Typhoon Ellen

Tropical Storm Fran (Kuring)

Typhoon Georgia

Typhoon Iris (Daling)

Tropical Storm Hope

Tropical Depression 11W

Tropical Storm Joan (Elang)

Severe Tropical Storm Kate (Goring)

Tropical Depression 14W

Typhoon Louise (Huling)

Typhoon Marge (Ibiang)

Hainan Hainan (, ; ) is the smallest and southernmost province of the People's Republic of China (PRC), consisting of various islands in the South China Sea. , the largest and most populous island in China,The island of Taiwan, which is slightly l ...

Qionghai Qionghai, or in local Hainanese dialect as Kheng Hai, is one of the seven county-level cities of Hainan province, China. Although Administrative divisions of China#Ambiguity of the word "city" in China, called a "city", Qionghai refers to a large ...

Jiaji town recorded a minimum central pressure of 937.8 hPa when Marge landfall. Marge killed 903 people in Hainan. Marge made its final landfall in Thanh Hoa, Vietnam on September 15.

Typhoon Nora (Luming)

The monsoon trough spawned a tropical depression east of the Philippines on October 1. Under weak steering currents, it meandered westward, where favorable conditions allowed for it to strengthen, first to a tropical storm on the 2nd, then to a typhoon on the 3rd. Nora continued to the northwest, and explosively deepened on the 5th and 6th to a 185 mph super typhoon. At the time, it had a minimum central pressure of 875

millibar The bar is a metric unit of pressure, but not part of the International System of Units (SI). It is defined as exactly equal to 100,000 Pa (100 kPa), or slightly less than the current average atmospheric pressure on Earth at sea leve ...

s, the lowest pressure on record at the time and currently tied for 9th. The typhoon weakened as it headed to the northwest, and struck northeastern

Luzon Luzon (; ) is the largest and most populous island in the Philippines. Located in the northern portion of the Philippines archipelago, it is the economic and political center of the nation, being home to the country's capital city, Manila, as ...

on the 7th as a 115 mph typhoon. Nora continued to the northwest, weakening to a minimal typhoon as it hit southeast China on the 10th. The typhoon caused 18 fatalities, with over $2 million in damage.

Typhoon Opal

Typhoon Patsy (Miling)

Typhoon Ruth (Narsing)

27 people were killed when Typhoon Ruth crossed

on October 15 and caused $5 million in damage. Ruth continued to the northwest, and hit

Hainan Island Hainan (, ; ) is the smallest and southernmost province of the People's Republic of China (PRC), consisting of various islands in the South China Sea. , the largest and most populous island in China,The island of Taiwan, which is slightly l ...

and Quang Ninh, Vietnam on the 19th, respectively.

Severe Tropical Storm Sarah

On November 12 this system emerged in the Bay of Bengal and became Tropical Cyclone 37-73.

Severe Tropical Storm Thelma

Severe Tropical Storm Vera (Openg)

One of the strongest tropical cyclones to hit

Visayas The Visayas ( ), or the Visayan Islands (Bisayan languages, Visayan: ''Kabisay-an'', ; tl, Kabisayaan ), are one of the three Island groups of the Philippines, principal geographical divisions of the Philippines, along with Luzon and Mindanao ...

when it entered on November 20, although the system didn't reach typhoon status. Tropical Storm Openg affected around 3.4 million people.

Storm names

Western North Pacific tropical cyclones were named by the

. The first storm of 1973 was named Wilda and the final one was named Vera.

Philippines

The

uses its own naming scheme for tropical cyclones in their area of responsibility. PAGASA assigns names to tropical depressions that form within their area of responsibility and any tropical cyclone that might move into their area of responsibility. Should the list of names for a given year prove to be insufficient, names are taken from an auxiliary list, the first 10 of which are published each year before the season starts. This is the same list used for the 1969 season. PAGASA uses its own naming scheme that starts in the

Filipino alphabet The modern Filipino alphabet ( fil, makabagong alpabetong Filipino), otherwise known as the Filipino alphabet ( fil, alpabetong Filipino), is the alphabet of the Filipino language, the official national language and one of the two official langua ...

, with names of Filipino female names ending with "ng" (A, B, K, D, etc.).

Season effects

This table will list all the storms that developed in the northwestern Pacific Ocean west of the

International Date Line The International Date Line (IDL) is an internationally accepted demarcation on the surface of Earth, running between the South and North Poles and serving as the boundary between one calendar day and the next. It passes through the Pacific O ...

and north of the equator during 1973. It will include their intensity, duration, name, areas affected, deaths, missing persons (in parentheses), and damage totals. Classification and intensity values will be based on estimations conducted by the JMA, however due to lack of information around this time sustained winds were recorded by the JTWC. All damage figures will be in 1973 USD. Damages and deaths from a storm will include when the storm was a precursor wave or an extratropical low. , - , TD , , , , bgcolor=#, , , bgcolor=#, , , bgcolor=#, , , South China , , None , , None , , , - , Wilda (Atring) , , , , bgcolor=#, , , bgcolor=#, , , bgcolor=#, , ,

China China, officially the People's Republic of China (PRC), is a country in East Asia. It is the world's most populous country, with a population exceeding 1.4 billion, slightly ahead of India. China spans the equivalent of five time zones and ...

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Vietnam Vietnam or Viet Nam ( vi, Việt Nam, ), officially the Socialist Republic of Vietnam,., group="n" is a country in Southeast Asia, at the eastern edge of mainland Southeast Asia, with an area of and population of 96 million, making i ...

Thailand Thailand ( ), historically known as Siam () and officially the Kingdom of Thailand, is a country in Southeast Asia, located at the centre of the Indochinese Peninsula, spanning , with a population of almost 70 million. The country is bo ...

, , Unknown , , Unknown , , , - , Billie (Bining) , , , , bgcolor=#, , , bgcolor=#, , , bgcolor=#, , , Philippines,

Ryukyu Islands The , also known as the or the , are a chain of Japanese islands that stretch southwest from Kyushu to Taiwan: the Ōsumi, Tokara, Amami, Okinawa, and Sakishima Islands (further divided into the Miyako and Yaeyama Islands), with Yonaguni ...

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Korean Peninsula Korea ( ko, 한국, or , ) is a peninsular region in East Asia. Since 1945, it has been divided at or near the 38th parallel, with North Korea (Democratic People's Republic of Korea) comprising its northern half and South Korea (Republic o ...

, , Unknown , , , , , - , Clara , , , , bgcolor=#, , , bgcolor=#, , , bgcolor=#, , , None , , None , , None , , , - , Ellen , , , , bgcolor=#, , , bgcolor=#, , , bgcolor=#, , ,

Japan Japan ( ja, 日本, or , and formally , ''Nihonkoku'') is an island country in East Asia. It is situated in the northwest Pacific Ocean, and is bordered on the west by the Sea of Japan, while extending from the Sea of Okhotsk in the north ...

, , None , , None , , , - , TD , , , , bgcolor=#, , , bgcolor=#, , , bgcolor=#, , ,

Mariana Islands The Mariana Islands (; also the Marianas; in Chamorro: ''Manislan Mariånas'') are a crescent-shaped archipelago comprising the summits of fifteen longitudinally oriented, mostly dormant volcanic mountains in the northwestern Pacific Ocean, betw ...

, , None , , None , , , - , Fran (Kuring) , , , , bgcolor=#, , , bgcolor=#, , , bgcolor=#, , , Philippines , , None , , None , , , - , Georgia , , , , bgcolor=#, , , bgcolor=#, , , bgcolor=#, , , China , , Unknown , , Unknown , , , - , TD , , , , bgcolor=#, , , bgcolor=#, , , bgcolor=#, , , Philippines , , None , , None , , , - , Iris (Daling) , , , , bgcolor=#, , , bgcolor=#, , , bgcolor=#, , , Ryukyu Islands, Korean Peninsula , , Unknown , , Unknown , , , - , Hope , , , , bgcolor=#, , , bgcolor=#, , , bgcolor=#, , , None , , None , , None , , , - , 11W , , , , bgcolor=#, , , bgcolor=#, , , bgcolor=#, , , None , , None , , None , , , - , TD , , , , bgcolor=#, , , bgcolor=#, , , bgcolor=#, , , Philippines , , None , , None , , , - , Joan (Elang) , , , , bgcolor=#, , , bgcolor=#, , , bgcolor=#, , , Philippines,

Taiwan Taiwan, officially the Republic of China (ROC), is a country in East Asia, at the junction of the East and South China Seas in the northwestern Pacific Ocean, with the People's Republic of China (PRC) to the northwest, Japan to the nort ...

, China , , None , , None , , , - , TD , , , , bgcolor=#, , , bgcolor=#, , , bgcolor=#, , , Taiwan , , None , , None , , , - , Kate (Goring) , , , , bgcolor=#, , , bgcolor=#, , , bgcolor=#, , , Philippines,

South China South China () is a geographical and cultural region that covers the southernmost part of China. Its precise meaning varies with context. A notable feature of South China in comparison to the rest of China is that most of its citizens are not n ...

, Vietnam , , Unknown , , Unknown , , , - , TD , , , , bgcolor=#, , , bgcolor=#, , , bgcolor=#, , , Taiwan, Ryukyu Islands, China , , None , , None , , , - , 14W , , , , bgcolor=#, , , bgcolor=#, , , bgcolor=#, , , South China, Vietnam , , None , , None , , , - , Louise (Huling) , , , , bgcolor=#, , , bgcolor=#, , , bgcolor=#, , , Philippines, South China , , Unknown , , Unknown , , , - , TD , , , , bgcolor=#, , , bgcolor=#, , , bgcolor=#, , , None , , None , , None , , , - , Marge (Ibiang) , , , , bgcolor=#, , , bgcolor=#, , , bgcolor=#, , , Philippines, South China , , Unknown , , , , , - , TD , , , , bgcolor=#, , , bgcolor=#, , , bgcolor=#, , , None , , None , , None , , , - , Nora (Luming) , , , , bgcolor=#, , , bgcolor=#, , , bgcolor=#, , , Philippines, South China , , , , , , , - , Opal , , , , bgcolor=#, , , bgcolor=#, , , bgcolor=#, , , Vietnam,

Cambodia Cambodia (; also Kampuchea ; km, កម្ពុជា, UNGEGN: ), officially the Kingdom of Cambodia, is a country located in the southern portion of the Indochinese Peninsula in Southeast Asia, spanning an area of , bordered by Thailand t ...

Laos Laos (, ''Lāo'' )), officially the Lao People's Democratic Republic ( Lao: ສາທາລະນະລັດ ປະຊາທິປະໄຕ ປະຊາຊົນລາວ, French: République démocratique populaire lao), is a socialist ...

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Caroline Islands The Caroline Islands (or the Carolines) are a widely scattered archipelago of tiny islands in the western Pacific Ocean, to the north of New Guinea. Politically, they are divided between the Federated States of Micronesia (FSM) in the centra ...

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Palau Palau,, officially the Republic of Palau and historically ''Belau'', ''Palaos'' or ''Pelew'', is an island country and microstate in the western Pacific. The nation has approximately 340 islands and connects the western chain of the Caro ...

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Malaysia Malaysia ( ; ) is a country in Southeast Asia. The federation, federal constitutional monarchy consists of States and federal territories of Malaysia, thirteen states and three federal territories, separated by the South China Sea into two r ...

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References

External links

Japan Meteorological Agency

Joint Typhoon Warning Center
.
China Meteorological Agency

National Weather Service Guam

Macau Meteorological Geophysical Services

Korea Meteorological Agency

Philippine Atmospheric, Geophysical and Astronomical Services Administration

Digital Typhoon - Typhoon Images and Information

Typhoon2000 Philippine typhoon website
{{DEFAULTSORT:1973 Pacific Typhoon Season