1973 Pacific Hurricane Season - Season Summary

Season Summary

The season began with the formation of the pre-Ava tropical depression on June 2 and ended with the dissipation of Tropical Lillian on October 9. The season lasted a total of 129 days. No named storms formed in May, three in June, four in July, one in August, three in September, one in October, and none in November. Another six tropical depressions formed during the year, but data on them is unavailable. All of these tropical cyclones formed in the eastern north Pacific tropical cyclone basin, which encompasses the Pacific Ocean north of the equator east of 140°W. None formed in the central north Pacific, which is the remainder of the Pacific Ocean east of the international dateline.

Of the tropical cyclones that formed this year, were twelve tropical storms and seven were hurricanes. Of those hurricanes, three of them were major hurricanes because they reached Category 3 or higher on the Saffir-Simpson Scale. These totals are all below the long-term averages of thirteen tropical storms, nine hurricanes, and four major hurricanes. At the time, this season's total of twelve named tropical cyclones was exactly average, although at the time the climatology in this basin was weak because satellite coverage was spotty before 1966.

This season, all advisories and tropical cyclone data were released and collected by two agencies, the Eastern Pacific Hurricane Center in Redwood City, California, and the Central Pacific Hurricane Center in Honolulu, Hawaii, both of which were coextensive with the National Weather Service Forecast Offices in their respective cities. The EPHC covered the area between the coast of North America and 140°W, and the CPHC the remainder of the area.