Hurricane History Map

Cyclone Heta path, 2004

South Pacific and Australian region basin, 25 December 2003 to 12 January 2004. Its recorded track is shown on the map and selected for you.

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Years1842 to 2026
Ocean basin

Choosing a minimum category hides storms with no wind speed in the record. To see which storms have passed near you, search a town or ZIP code, or tap the map.

Key
  • Tropical depression Winds below 34 knots (39 mph)
  • Tropical storm 34 to 63 knots (39 to 73 mph)
  • Category 1 64 to 82 knots (74 to 95 mph)
  • Category 2 83 to 95 knots (96 to 110 mph)
  • Category 3 96 to 112 knots (111 to 129 mph), major
  • Category 4 113 to 136 knots (130 to 156 mph), major
  • Category 5 137 knots (157 mph) or more, major
  • Unknown intensity No wind speed in the record
  • Post-tropical Storm has become post-tropical (dashed line)

How to read the lines. Each line is the track of one storm, drawn through its six-hourly positions and coloured by its intensity at each point (the Saffir-Simpson scale), so a line changes colour as the storm strengthens or weakens. Tap a line for its details, or tap anywhere else to see which storms have passed nearby. Weaker storms appear as you zoom in. Hurricanes, typhoons and cyclones are the same kind of storm with different names in different oceans.

What the record says

Heta was a cyclone in the South Pacific and Australian region basin that lasted about 18 days, from 25 December 2003 to 12 January 2004. Its peak was Category 5 (140 kt) on 5 January 2004, with a 1-minute sustained wind of 140 kt (161 mph, 259 km/h). Its lowest recorded pressure was 915 hPa.

  • Category 5peak intensity
  • 140 ktpeak wind (161 mph)
  • 915 hPalowest pressure
  • 18 dayslifetime

Source of the peak wind: US Joint Typhoon Warning Center (southern hemisphere). The regional forecast centre (RSMC Nadi (Fiji Meteorological Service)) gave a peak of 115 kt on its own averaging convention (10-minute winds), so the two figures differ.

It has its own page because it reached category 5 or stronger.

This page gives the official record's figures. It does not describe the human cost of the storm, which is far larger than any wind speed or pressure here.

Where it came ashore

The record shows no landfall: the storm stayed at sea.

Countries it came within 50 km of

Strongest effect first.

How to read this track

The line joins the storm's six-hourly positions with straight lines, coloured by its intensity at each point, so it shows how the storm strengthened and weakened. The real path curved between the positions. A dashed grey stretch means the storm had become post-tropical. Records before the satellite era (about the 1960s) are estimates.

Source: NOAA NCEI IBTrACS, public domain. See data sources and caveats.

Other notable storms of the 2004 South Pacific and Australian region season

Other notable storms near Niue

  • Ofa (1990)28 January 1990 to 10 February 1990, peak Category 4 (115 kt), 925 hPa

The 2004 South Pacific and Australian region season · All notable storms

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