The 1979 season

Typhoon Abby (1979)

Typhoon Abby reached Category 3 in the Western Pacific between November 29, 1979 and December 15, 1979, with a lowest pressure of 950 mb.

Radar

Reflectivity now over Typhoon Abby. Open it to see storms, cones and warnings on the map.

Open the live radar with storms, cones and warnings

Radar mosaic and map layers from NOAA MRMS. Boundaries from the Iowa Environmental Mesonet.

The storm

Basin
Western Pacific
Dates
November 29, 1979 to December 15, 1979
Peak strength
Category 3, 110 kt (127 mph)
Lowest pressure
950 mb (28.05 inHg)
Landfall
No; closest approach 560 km (348 mi)
Accumulated cyclone energy
18.4
Identifier
WP271979

Deaths and damage

No source this site reads publishes a machine-readable casualty or damage figure for a storm of this era. The National Hurricane Center’s season tables begin in 1995 and carry deaths and damage only from 2005 in the Atlantic and 2020 in both basins; the US Storm Events record begins in 1996.

Track

Time (UTC)PositionWindPressureStatus
Nov 29, 00:006.8N 169.0E15 ktTropical storm
Nov 29, 06:006.8N 168.3E15 ktTropical storm
Nov 29, 12:006.8N 167.7E15 ktTropical storm
Nov 29, 18:006.7N 166.9E15 ktTropical storm
Nov 30, 00:006.7N 166.3E15 ktTropical storm
Nov 30, 06:006.6N 165.5E20 ktTropical storm
Nov 30, 12:006.5N 164.9E20 ktTropical storm
Nov 30, 18:006.3N 164.2E20 ktTropical storm
Dec 1, 00:006.2N 163.4E20 ktMixed
Dec 1, 06:005.9N 162.8E25 kt1006 mbMixed
Dec 1, 12:005.8N 161.9E25 kt1004 mbTropical storm
Dec 1, 18:005.7N 160.9E30 kt1004 mbTropical storm
Dec 2, 00:005.8N 160.3E40 kt996 mbTropical storm
Dec 2, 06:005.9N 159.8E40 kt996 mbTropical storm
Dec 2, 12:006.0N 159.6E45 kt994 mbTropical storm
Dec 2, 18:006.1N 159.3E45 kt992 mbTropical storm
Dec 3, 00:006.3N 159.1E45 kt990 mbTropical storm
Dec 3, 06:006.5N 159.0E40 kt994 mbTropical storm
Dec 3, 12:006.8N 158.9E40 kt996 mbTropical storm
Dec 3, 18:007.3N 158.8E40 kt990 mbTropical storm
Dec 4, 00:008.1N 158.3E45 kt994 mbTropical storm
Dec 4, 06:008.2N 157.4E55 kt990 mbTropical storm
Dec 4, 12:008.2N 156.4E60 kt990 mbTropical storm
Dec 4, 18:008.2N 155.8E60 kt985 mbTropical storm
Dec 5, 00:008.2N 155.1E60 kt985 mbTropical storm
Dec 5, 06:008.1N 154.2E60 kt990 mbTropical storm
Dec 5, 12:008.0N 153.3E60 kt990 mbTropical storm
Dec 5, 18:008.3N 152.5E50 kt990 mbTropical storm
Dec 6, 00:008.8N 151.9E35 kt990 mbTropical storm
Dec 6, 06:009.2N 151.0E30 kt990 mbTropical storm
Dec 6, 12:009.5N 149.8E30 kt990 mbTropical storm
Dec 6, 18:009.8N 148.1E30 kt990 mbTropical storm
Dec 7, 00:0010.0N 146.7E30 kt990 mbTropical storm
Dec 7, 06:0010.2N 145.9E35 kt992 mbTropical storm
Dec 7, 12:0010.6N 145.3E35 kt992 mbTropical storm
Dec 7, 18:0011.0N 144.8E35 kt992 mbTropical storm
Dec 8, 00:0011.7N 144.1E35 kt992 mbTropical storm
Dec 8, 06:0012.1N 143.3E30 kt994 mbTropical storm
Dec 8, 12:0012.2N 142.1E30 kt994 mbTropical storm
Dec 8, 18:0011.8N 140.6E30 kt996 mbTropical storm
Dec 9, 00:0011.4N 138.9E35 kt998 mbTropical storm
Dec 9, 06:0011.0N 137.4E35 kt998 mbTropical storm
Dec 9, 12:0010.3N 136.0E40 kt985 mbTropical storm
Dec 9, 18:0010.5N 134.7E45 kt980 mbTropical storm
Dec 10, 00:0011.3N 133.3E50 kt985 mbTropical storm
Dec 10, 06:0011.7N 132.9E60 kt980 mbTropical storm
Dec 10, 12:0012.3N 132.1E70 kt975 mbTropical storm
Dec 10, 18:0013.1N 131.2E75 kt970 mbTropical storm
Dec 11, 00:0013.7N 130.6E80 kt965 mbTropical storm
Dec 11, 06:0014.2N 130.1E85 kt965 mbTropical storm
Dec 11, 12:0015.0N 130.1E90 kt960 mbTropical storm
Dec 11, 18:0015.7N 130.2E100 kt955 mbTropical storm
Dec 12, 00:0016.4N 130.3E100 kt955 mbTropical storm
Dec 12, 06:0017.1N 131.0E100 kt950 mbTropical storm
Dec 12, 12:0018.0N 132.0E100 kt950 mbTropical storm
Dec 12, 18:0018.9N 133.1E100 kt950 mbTropical storm
Dec 13, 00:0019.8N 134.5E110 kt955 mbTropical storm
Dec 13, 06:0020.5N 136.2E110 kt960 mbTropical storm
Dec 13, 12:0021.2N 138.1E90 kt970 mbTropical storm
Dec 13, 18:0021.8N 140.1E80 kt980 mbTropical storm
Dec 14, 00:0022.2N 142.4E60 kt985 mbTropical storm
Dec 14, 06:0022.6N 144.9E40 kt996 mbTropical storm
Dec 14, 12:0022.7N 147.7E30 kt1000 mbMixed
Dec 14, 18:0022.8N 150.3E30 kt1000 mbMixed
Dec 15, 00:0023.0N 153.0E25 kt1006 mbMixed
Dec 15, 06:0024.0N 156.0E1008 mbExtratropical
Dec 15, 12:0024.4N 159.0E1012 mbExtratropical

Other Western Pacific storms of 1979

What this means

A best track is the record a warning agency settles on after the storm, not what it said at the time: position, maximum sustained wind and central pressure every six hours, revised against every observation that came in later. Category is the Saffir-Simpson scale, which runs from Category 1 at 64 kt to Category 5 at 137 kt and reads wind only, so it says nothing about surge or rain. Accumulated cyclone energy adds up the square of the wind through the storm's life, so it counts strength and duration together.

Sources

Storm history from NOAA NCEI’s International Best Track Archive for Climate Stewardship (IBTrACS), which merges the official best track of every warning agency. Live storms, cones, watches and warnings from the National Hurricane Center and the Central Pacific Hurricane Center. Archived radar from NOAA’s Level II archive.