The 1979 season

Tropical Storm Claudette (1979)

Tropical Storm Claudette peaked at 45 kt in the North Atlantic between July 15, 1979 and July 29, 1979, with a lowest pressure of 997 mb, and made landfall.

Track and intensity

The whole track of Tropical Storm Claudette, 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
North Atlantic
Dates
July 15, 1979 to July 29, 1979
Peak strength
Tropical Storm, 45 kt (52 mph)
Lowest pressure
997 mb (29.44 inHg)
Landfall
Yes
Accumulated cyclone energy
1.6
Fastest the center moved
23 kt (26 mph)
Identifier
AL061979

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.

Rainfall

The Weather Prediction Center attributes 2,160 rain gauge totals over the contiguous United States to this storm. The wettest reached 45.00 inches (1143 mm).

StationTotalPosition
Alvin45.00 in (1143 mm)0.00N 0.00E
Sargent34.50 in (876 mm)0.00N 0.00E
Freeport30.20 in (767 mm)0.00N 0.00E
ALVIN27.28 in (693 mm)29.37N 95.23W
FREEPORT 2 NW23.74 in (603 mm)28.98N 95.38W
PORT ARTHUR CITY19.24 in (489 mm)29.90N 93.97W
ANGLETON 2 W18.61 in (473 mm)29.17N 95.45W
MATAGORDA 214.75 in (375 mm)28.68N 95.97W
GALVESTON14.57 in (370 mm)29.30N 94.80W
BEAUMONT CITY13.33 in (339 mm)30.10N 94.10W
PORT ARTHUR SE TX RGNL AP12.83 in (326 mm)29.95N 94.02W
HACKBERRY 8 SSW12.53 in (318 mm)29.88N 93.40W

WPC’s storm rainfall file, 1900 to 2020, compiled by David Roth.

Track

Time (UTC)PositionWindPressureStatus
Jul 15, 12:0012.5N 46.3W20 kt1014 mbTropical depression
Jul 15, 18:0012.8N 48.4W20 kt1014 mbTropical depression
Jul 16, 00:0013.4N 50.4W25 kt1012 mbTropical depression
Jul 16, 06:0014.6N 52.1W25 kt1012 mbTropical depression
Jul 16, 12:0015.7N 53.8W30 kt1011 mbTropical depression
Jul 16, 18:0016.5N 55.5W30 kt1011 mbTropical depression
Jul 17, 00:0017.0N 57.2W30 kt1011 mbTropical depression
Jul 17, 06:0017.5N 58.8W30 kt1011 mbTropical depression
Jul 17, 12:0017.8N 60.3W35 kt1011 mbTropical storm
Jul 17, 18:0018.0N 62.1W40 kt1010 mbTropical storm
Jul 18, 00:0018.2N 63.8W35 kt1010 mbTropical storm
Jul 18, 06:0018.3N 65.4W30 kt1011 mbTropical depression
Jul 18, 12:0018.4N 67.0W30 kt1011 mbTropical depression
Jul 18, 18:0018.5N 68.5W25 kt1012 mbTropical depression
Jul 19, 00:0018.7N 69.5W20 kt1012 mbTropical depression
Jul 19, 06:0018.8N 70.5W20 kt1012 mbTropical depression
Jul 19, 12:0018.8N 71.4W20 kt1012 mbTropical depression
Jul 19, 18:0019.0N 72.4W20 kt1012 mbTropical depression
Jul 20, 00:0019.0N 73.3W20 kt1013 mbTropical depression
Jul 20, 06:0019.2N 74.7W20 kt1013 mbTropical depression
Jul 20, 12:0019.5N 76.7W20 kt1013 mbTropical depression
Jul 20, 18:0020.0N 78.7W20 kt1013 mbTropical depression
Jul 21, 00:0020.6N 80.4W20 kt1013 mbTropical depression
Jul 21, 06:0021.4N 82.2W25 kt1013 mbTropical depression
Jul 21, 12:0022.1N 83.5W30 kt1012 mbTropical depression
Jul 21, 18:0022.8N 85.0W30 kt1010 mbTropical depression
Jul 22, 00:0023.5N 86.5W30 kt1007 mbTropical depression
Jul 22, 06:0024.0N 87.4W30 kt1007 mbTropical depression
Jul 22, 12:0024.5N 88.5W30 kt1007 mbTropical depression
Jul 22, 18:0025.0N 89.5W30 kt1006 mbTropical depression
Jul 23, 00:0025.4N 90.5W30 kt1005 mbTropical depression
Jul 23, 06:0025.9N 91.4W30 kt1004 mbTropical depression
Jul 23, 12:0026.4N 92.4W35 kt1003 mbTropical storm
Jul 23, 18:0026.9N 92.9W35 kt1003 mbTropical storm
Jul 24, 00:0027.5N 93.4W35 kt1003 mbTropical storm
Jul 24, 06:0028.3N 93.5W40 kt1003 mbTropical storm
Jul 24, 12:0028.8N 93.7W45 kt1002 mbTropical storm
Jul 24, 18:0029.6N 93.9W45 kt1000 mbTropical storm
Jul 25, 00:0030.3N 93.9W40 kt997 mbTropical storm
Jul 25, 06:0030.3N 94.3W35 kt998 mbTropical storm
Jul 25, 12:0030.5N 94.8W30 kt1000 mbTropical depression
Jul 25, 18:0030.5N 95.2W30 kt1001 mbTropical depression
Jul 26, 00:0030.2N 95.3W30 kt1001 mbTropical depression
Jul 26, 06:0030.6N 95.1W30 kt1002 mbTropical depression
Jul 26, 12:0030.8N 95.4W25 kt1003 mbTropical depression
Jul 26, 18:0031.3N 96.3W25 kt1004 mbTropical depression
Jul 27, 00:0031.8N 96.6W20 kt1004 mbTropical depression
Jul 27, 06:0032.7N 96.4W20 kt1006 mbTropical depression
Jul 27, 12:0034.0N 95.9W15 kt1007 mbTropical depression
Jul 27, 18:0035.3N 95.3W15 kt1007 mbTropical depression
Jul 28, 00:0036.4N 94.6W15 kt1007 mbTropical depression
Jul 28, 06:0037.8N 93.4W15 kt1008 mbTropical depression
Jul 28, 12:0038.6N 91.0W15 kt1009 mbTropical depression
Jul 28, 18:0038.8N 88.0W15 kt1009 mbTropical depression
Jul 29, 00:0039.0N 85.2W15 kt1010 mbTropical depression
Jul 29, 06:0039.0N 82.8W15 kt1011 mbTropical depression
Jul 29, 12:0039.0N 80.2W15 kt1011 mbTropical depression

Other North Atlantic 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.