The 1979 season

Tropical Storm Blanca (1979)

Tropical Storm Blanca peaked at 45 kt in the Eastern Pacific between June 21, 1979 and June 25, 1979.

Track and intensity

The whole track of Tropical Storm Blanca, colored by strength, with the other storms of the 1979 season in the same basin behind it, and its wind and pressure hour by hour. Every fix is in the track table below.

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The storm

Basin
Eastern Pacific
Dates
June 21, 1979 to June 25, 1979
Peak strength
Tropical Storm, 45 kt (52 mph)
Landfall
No; closest approach 869 km (540 mi)
Accumulated cyclone energy
2.2
Fastest the center moved
21 kt (24 mph)
Identifier
EP021979

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
Jun 21, 06:009.5N 102.7W25 ktTropical depression
Jun 21, 12:009.3N 104.2W30 ktTropical depression
Jun 21, 18:009.3N 105.7W30 ktTropical depression
Jun 22, 00:009.3N 107.0W35 ktTropical storm
Jun 22, 06:009.5N 108.1W45 ktTropical storm
Jun 22, 12:009.6N 109.1W45 ktTropical storm
Jun 22, 18:009.7N 110.1W45 ktTropical storm
Jun 23, 00:0010.0N 111.1W45 ktTropical storm
Jun 23, 06:0010.2N 112.0W45 ktTropical storm
Jun 23, 12:0010.3N 113.3W45 ktTropical storm
Jun 23, 18:0010.7N 114.4W45 ktTropical storm
Jun 24, 00:0011.2N 115.6W40 ktTropical storm
Jun 24, 06:0011.3N 116.9W40 ktTropical storm
Jun 24, 12:0011.5N 118.2W35 ktTropical storm
Jun 24, 18:0011.8N 119.5W35 ktTropical storm
Jun 25, 00:0012.5N 121.0W35 ktTropical storm
Jun 25, 06:0012.8N 122.8W25 ktTropical depression
Jun 25, 12:0013.3N 124.9W25 ktTropical depression

Other Eastern 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.

The National Hurricane Center has published no tropical cyclone report for this storm.