Track map & timeline · Eastern Pacific · October 6–13, 1971
TD TS Cat 1 2 3 4 5 · dashed = post-tropical / remnant low. Click any point or table row to jump there.
01 · The story
Hurricane Priscilla (1971) was a Category 3 hurricane of the 1971 Eastern Pacific season. It formed on October 6, 1971, 214 mi S of Acajutla, El Salvador, reached its peak of 127 mph (204 km/h) and a minimum pressure of 951 mb on October 10, 1971, and never made landfall. It rapidly intensified by 46 mph in 24 hours (to 92 mph on October 9, 1971). The storm lasted 6.5 days and travelled about 1,608 miles (2,588 km).
02 · Intensity
03 · Impact
| City | Distance to center | When (UTC) | Storm strength then |
|---|---|---|---|
| Tepic, Nayarit, Mexico | 26 mi | Oct 12 · 15:00 UTC | TS 58 mph |
Distance from the city to the storm’s center, interpolated hourly between official fixes. Damaging winds, surge and rain reach far beyond the center.
04 · Timeline
| Date · UTC | Status | Wind | Pressure | Position | Nearest place |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Oct 6 12:00 | TD | 35 mph | — | 10.5°N 89.9°W | open ocean |
| Oct 6 18:00 | TD | 35 mph | — | 10.7°N 90.9°W | open ocean |
| Oct 7 00:00 | TD | 35 mph | — | 11.0°N 91.7°W | open ocean |
| Oct 7 06:00 | TD | 35 mph | — | 11.3°N 92.4°W | open ocean |
| Oct 7 12:00 | TD | 35 mph | — | 11.6°N 93.2°W | open ocean |
| Oct 7 18:00 | TS | 46 mph | — | 11.9°N 93.6°W | open ocean |
| Oct 8 00:00 | TS | 46 mph | — | 12.2°N 94.7°W | open ocean |
| Oct 8 06:00 | TS | 46 mph | — | 12.5°N 95.3°W | open ocean |
| Oct 8 12:00 | TS | 46 mph | — | 12.8°N 95.9°W | open ocean |
| Oct 8 18:00 | Cat 1 | 81 mph | 984 mb | 13.1°N 96.7°W | 184 mi S of San Pedro Pochutla, Oaxaca, Mexico |
| Oct 9 00:00 | Cat 1 | 81 mph | — | 13.4°N 97.6°W | 174 mi SSW of Puerto Escondido, Oaxaca, Mexico |
| Oct 9 06:00 | Cat 1 | 81 mph | — | 13.8°N 98.5°W | 169 mi SSW of Río Grande, Oaxaca, Mexico |
| Oct 9 12:00 | Cat 1 | 92 mph | — | 14.2°N 99.3°W | 170 mi SSW of Pinotepa Nacional, Oaxaca, Mexico |
| Oct 9 18:00 | Cat 2 | 104 mph | 960 mb | 14.6°N 100.5°W | 160 mi SSW of Acapulco de Juárez, Guerrero, Mexico |
| Oct 10 00:00 | Cat 2 | 104 mph | — | 15.0°N 101.6°W | 170 mi SW of Acapulco de Juárez, Guerrero, Mexico |
| Oct 10 06:00 | Cat 2 | 104 mph | — | 15.6°N 102.7°W | 160 mi SSW of Ixtapa-Zihuatanejo, Guerrero, Mexico |
| Oct 10 12:00 | Cat 2 | 104 mph | — | 16.2°N 103.8°W | 161 mi SW of Ciudad Lázaro Cárdenas, Michoacán, Mexico |
| Oct 10 18:00 | Cat 3 | 127 mph | 951 mb | 16.7°N 104.6°W | 160 mi SSW of Tecomán, Colima, Mexico |
| Oct 11 00:00 | Cat 3 | 127 mph | — | 17.3°N 105.4°W | 143 mi SSW of Manzanillo, Colima, Mexico |
| Oct 11 06:00 | Cat 3 | 127 mph | — | 17.9°N 106.0°W | 132 mi SW of Cihuatlán, Jalisco, Mexico |
| Oct 11 12:00 | Cat 3 | 127 mph | — | 18.6°N 106.3°W | 122 mi WSW of Cihuatlán, Jalisco, Mexico |
| Oct 11 18:00 | Cat 1 | 92 mph | — | 19.3°N 106.4°W | 119 mi SW of Puerto Vallarta, Jalisco, Mexico |
| Oct 12 00:00 | Cat 1 | 92 mph | — | 20.1°N 106.3°W | 78 mi WSW of Puerto Vallarta, Jalisco, Mexico |
| Oct 12 06:00 | Cat 1 | 81 mph | — | 20.8°N 106.0°W | 43 mi W of Bucerías, Nayarit, Mexico |
| Oct 12 12:00 | TS | 69 mph | — | 21.5°N 105.5°W | 14 mi WSW of San Blas, Nayarit, Mexico |
| Oct 12 18:00 | TS | 46 mph | — | 22.1°N 104.8°W | 24 mi ENE of Ruiz, Nayarit, Mexico |
| Oct 13 00:00 | TD | 29 mph | — | 22.6°N 103.8°W | 19 mi SW of Valparaíso, Zacatecas, Mexico |
⬇ Download track data (CSV) · public-domain NOAA best track
Questions
No — the NOAA best-track record shows no landfall for Priscilla. Its closest approach to a major city was 26 miles from Tepic, Nayarit, Mexico.
At its peak on October 10, 1971, Priscilla was a Category 3 hurricane with maximum sustained winds of 127 mph (204 km/h) and a central pressure of 951 mb.
6.5 days, from October 6, 1971 to October 13, 1971, including 90 hours at hurricane strength (24 as a major hurricane). It travelled about 1,608 miles.
The 6-hourly positions, winds, pressure and wind radii are available as CSV on this page (track.csv) — they come from the NOAA National Hurricane Center's HURDAT2 database and are in the public domain.
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