The 1973 Pacific typhoon season, in comparison to the two years preceding it, was a below average season, with only 21 named storms and 12 typhoons forming. However, it featured Typhoon Nora, which ties Typhoon June of 1975 for the second strongest typhoon on record. It has no official bounds; it ran year-round in 1973, but most

tropical cyclones A tropical cyclone is a rapidly rotating storm system with a low-pressure area, a closed low-level atmospheric circulation, strong winds, and a spiral arrangement of thunderstorms that produce heavy rain and squalls. Depending on its ...

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 the line extending between the South and North Poles that is the boundary between one calendar day and the next. It passes through the Pacific Ocean, roughly following the 180.0° line of longitude and de ...

. 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 above average season, with twelve named tropical cyclones in total. Seven storms became hurricanes, of which three were major (Category 3 or higher on the Saffir-Simpson scale). The season official ...

. 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 The Philippine Atmospheric, Geophysical and Astronomical Services Administration (, abbreviated as PAGASA , which means "hope" as in the Tagalog word ''pag-asa'') is the National Meteorological and Hydrological Services (NMHS) agency of the P ...

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

Season summary

ImageSize = width:1050 height:295 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(0.43,0.76,0.92) legend:Tropical_Depression_=_≤62_km/h_(≤39_mph) id:TS value:rgb(0.3,1,1) legend:Tropical_Storm_=_62–88_km/h_(39–54_mph) id:ST value:rgb(0.75,1,0.75) legend:Severe_Tropical_Storm_=_89–117_km/h_(55–72_mph) id:TY value:rgb(1,0.85,0.55) 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:"Clara" 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" 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" barset:break 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" 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. Notable Marges include: People * Marge (cartoonist) (1904–1993), pen name of Marjorie Henderson Buell, American cartoonist * Marge Anderson (1932–2013), Ojibwe ...

" 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 (1931–2025), French historian * Simon Nora (1921–2006), French politician Place ...

" 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" barset:break 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" 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 30. It crossed the island, and became a tropical storm as it entered the South China Sea on 1 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, officially the Republic of the Philippines, is an Archipelagic state, archipelagic country in Southeast Asia. Located in the western Pacific Ocean, it consists of List of islands of the Philippines, 7,641 islands, with a tot ...

, 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 ...

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

Typhoon Ellen formed as a disturbance on July 16 in the vicinity of

Okinotorishima , or Parece Vela, is a coral reef, geologically an atoll, with two rocks enlarged with tetrapod-cement structures. It is administered by Japan with a total shoal area of and land area . Its dry land area is mostly made up by three concrete enc ...

, from a trough in the

convergence zone A convergence zone in meteorology is a region in the atmosphere where two prevailing flows meet and interact, usually resulting in distinctive weather conditions. This causes a mass accumulation that eventually leads to a vertical movement a ...

trailing to the southeast of Typhoon Billie the day before. Its circulation closed up by 17 July, and at 0900 JST (0000

UTC Coordinated Universal Time (UTC) is the primary time standard globally used to regulate clocks and time. It establishes a reference for the current time, forming the basis for civil time and time zones. UTC facilitates international communica ...

) on the following day, the JMA upgraded it to a tropical storm. Due to its sluggish, erratic movements,

Shikoku is the smallest of the List of islands of Japan#Main islands, four main islands of Japan. It is long and between at its widest. It has a population of 3.8 million, the least populated of Japan's four main islands. It is south of Honshu ...

and

Kyushu is the third-largest island of Japan's Japanese archipelago, four main islands and the most southerly of the four largest islands (i.e. excluding Okinawa Island, Okinawa and the other Ryukyu Islands, Ryukyu (''Nansei'') Ryukyu Islands, Islands ...

received heavy rains between July 23 and July 26. This contributed to the above-average monthly precipitation for July 1973 in southern Shikoku and eastern Kyushu, when the rest of Japan was suffering from droughts.

Tropical Storm Fran (Kuring)

Typhoon Georgia

Typhoon Iris (Daling)

Iris struck North Korea and Japan.

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 an island provinces of China, province and the southernmost province of China. It consists of the eponymous Hainan Island and various smaller islands in the South China Sea under the province's administration. The name literally mean ...

Qionghai Qionghai, also called Keng Hai, is a County-level city, county-level city in Hainan, China. It is located in the east of Hainan Island. Kachek city was the capital of Keng Hai. Kachek city was 2nd largest city in Hainan island. Previous counties ...

Jiaji town recorded a minimum central pressure of 937.8 hPa when Marge made landfall. Marge killed 903 people in Hainan. Marge made its final landfall in Tam Diep Mountains (border of Ninh Binh and Thanh Hoa provinces) Vietnam in late September 14, 1973; brought heavay rainfall and flooding in

North Vietnam North Vietnam, officially the Democratic Republic of Vietnam (DRV; ; VNDCCH), was a country in Southeast Asia from 1945 to 1976, with sovereignty fully recognized in 1954 Geneva Conference, 1954. A member of the communist Eastern Bloc, it o ...

.1973 Super Typhoon MARGE (1973253N14129)
IBTrACSTÌNH HÌNH KTTV VÀ ẢNH HƯỞNG CỦA NÓ ĐẾN SẢN XUẤT NÔNG NGHIỆP 10 NĂM QUA (1971-1980)
Vietnam Journalist of Hydro and Meteorology

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 millibars, 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 List of islands in the Philippines, island in the Philippines. Located in the northern portion of the List of islands of the Philippines, Philippine archipelago, it is the economic and political ce ...

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)

A tropical depression formed and continued to intensify to a category 5 and later after entering the PAR line it starts rapidly weakening until it made landfall in Northern Luzon as a tropical storm and it sped as a tropical depression until it dissipated near Vietnam it was the second super typhoon after just Super typhoon Nora that struck northern Luzon.

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 an island province and the southernmost province of China. It consists of the eponymous Hainan Island and various smaller islands in the South China Sea under the province's administration. The name literally means "South of the Sea ...

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 Storm Thirteen (13B)

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'', ; Filipino language, Filipino: ''Kabisayaan'' ), are one of the three Island groups of the Philippines, principal geographical divisions of the Philippines, a ...

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 (), otherwise known as the Filipino alphabet (), is the alphabet of the Filipino language, the official national language and one of the two official languages of the Philippines. The modern Filipino alphabet is ma ...

, 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

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. With population of China, a population exceeding 1.4 billion, it is the list of countries by population (United Nations), second-most populous country after ...

, , Unknown , , Unknown , , , - , Anita , , , , bgcolor=#, , , bgcolor=#, , , bgcolor=#, , ,

Vietnam Vietnam, officially the Socialist Republic of Vietnam (SRV), is a country at the eastern edge of mainland Southeast Asia, with an area of about and a population of over 100 million, making it the world's List of countries and depende ...

Thailand Thailand, officially the Kingdom of Thailand and historically known as Siam (the official name until 1939), is a country in Southeast Asia on the Mainland Southeast Asia, Indochinese Peninsula. With a population of almost 66 million, it spa ...

, , 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 Geography of Taiwan, Taiwan: the Ryukyu Islands are divided into the Satsunan Islands (Ōsumi Islands, Ōsumi, Tokara Islands, Tokara and A ...

, China , , Unknown , , Unknown , , , - , Dot , , , , bgcolor=#, , , bgcolor=#, , , bgcolor=#, , , China, Ryukyu Islands,

Korean Peninsula Korea is a peninsular region in East Asia consisting of the Korean Peninsula, Jeju Island, and smaller islands. Since the end of World War II in 1945, it has been politically divided at or near the 38th parallel between North Korea (Dem ...

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

Japan Japan is an island country in East Asia. Located in the Pacific Ocean off the northeast coast of the Asia, Asian mainland, it is bordered on the west by the Sea of Japan and extends from the Sea of Okhotsk in the north to the East China Sea ...

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

Mariana Islands The Mariana Islands ( ; ), also simply the Marianas, are a crescent-shaped archipelago comprising the summits of fifteen longitudinally oriented, mostly dormant volcanic mountains in the northwestern Pacific Ocean, between the 12th and 21st pa ...

, , 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. The main geography of Taiwan, island of Taiwan, also known as ''Formosa'', lies between the East China Sea, East and South China Seas in the northwestern Pacific Ocea ...

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

South China South China ( zh, s=, p=Huá'nán, j=jyut6 naam4) 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 ...

, 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, officially the Kingdom of Cambodia, is a country in Southeast Asia on the Mainland Southeast Asia, Indochinese Peninsula. It is bordered by Thailand to the northwest, Laos to the north, and Vietnam to the east, and has a coastline ...

Laos Laos, officially the Lao People's Democratic Republic (LPDR), is the only landlocked country in Southeast Asia. It is bordered by Myanmar and China to the northwest, Vietnam to the east, Cambodia to the southeast, and Thailand to the west and ...

, , Unknown , , Unknown , , , - , Patsy (Miling) , , , , bgcolor=#, , , bgcolor=#, , , bgcolor=#, , , Philippines, Vietnam , , Unknown , , Unknown , , , - , TD , , , , bgcolor=#, , , bgcolor=#, , , bgcolor=#, , , None , , None , , None , , , - , Ruth (Narsing) , , , , bgcolor=#, , , bgcolor=#, , , bgcolor=#, , ,

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 cen ...

, Philippines, South China , , , , , , , - , TD , , , , bgcolor=#, , , bgcolor=#, , , bgcolor=#, , , Vietnam , , None , , None , , , - , TD , , , , bgcolor=#, , , bgcolor=#, , , bgcolor=#, , , Mariana Islands , , None , , None , , , - , TD , , , , bgcolor=#, , , bgcolor=#, , , bgcolor=#, , , None , , None , , None , , , - , TD , , , , bgcolor=#, , , bgcolor=#, , , bgcolor=#, , ,

Palau Palau, officially the Republic of Palau, is an island country in the Micronesia subregion of Oceania in the western Pacific Ocean. The Republic of Palau consists of approximately 340 islands and is the western part of the Caroline Islands ...

, , None , , None , , , - , TD , , , , bgcolor=#, , , bgcolor=#, , , bgcolor=#, , , None , , None , , None , , , - , Sarah , , , , bgcolor=#, , , bgcolor=#, , , bgcolor=#, , , Vietnam, Cambodia, Thailand , , Unknown , , Unknown , , , - , Thelma , , , , bgcolor=#, , , bgcolor=#, , , bgcolor=#, , , Philippines, Vietnam, Thailand , , Unknown , , Unknown , , , - , Vera (Openg) , , , , bgcolor=#, , , bgcolor=#, , , bgcolor=#, , , Philippines , , Unknown , , Unknown , , , - , TD , , , , bgcolor=#, , , bgcolor=#, , , bgcolor=#, , ,

Malaysia Malaysia is a country in Southeast Asia. Featuring the Tanjung Piai, southernmost point of continental Eurasia, it is a federation, federal constitutional monarchy consisting of States and federal territories of Malaysia, 13 states and thre ...

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

Footnotes

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