The 1979 season

Tropical Depression Dora (1979)

Tropical Depression Dora peaked at 28 kt in the South Indian between February 4, 1979 and February 14, 1979, with a lowest pressure of 997 mb, and made landfall.

Track and intensity

The whole track of Tropical Depression Dora, 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
South Indian
Dates
February 4, 1979 to February 14, 1979
Peak strength
Tropical Depression, 28 kt (32 mph), ten-minute wind
Lowest pressure
997 mb (29.44 inHg)
Landfall
Yes
Accumulated cyclone energy
0.0
Identifier
SH121979

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
Feb 4, 06:0019.1S 41.2E28 kt997 mbTropical storm
Feb 4, 12:0019.2S 41.6ETropical storm
Feb 4, 18:0019.4S 41.9ETropical storm
Feb 5, 00:0019.6S 42.2ETropical storm
Feb 5, 06:0019.9S 42.4E24 kt1000 mbTropical storm
Feb 5, 12:0020.0S 42.6ETropical storm
Feb 5, 18:0020.2S 42.8ETropical storm
Feb 6, 00:0020.4S 42.9ETropical storm
Feb 6, 06:0020.7S 43.1E20 kt1003 mbTropical storm
Feb 6, 12:0020.9S 43.3ETropical storm
Feb 6, 18:0021.1S 43.6ETropical storm
Feb 7, 00:0021.8S 43.8ETropical storm
Feb 7, 06:0022.2S 43.9EMixed
Feb 7, 12:0021.9S 43.3ETropical storm
Feb 7, 18:0021.6S 42.5ETropical storm
Feb 8, 00:0021.3S 42.2ETropical storm
Feb 8, 06:0021.0S 42.0EMixed
Feb 8, 12:0020.9S 42.0ETropical storm
Feb 8, 18:0020.9S 41.9ETropical storm
Feb 9, 00:0020.7S 41.8ETropical storm
Feb 9, 06:0020.5S 41.7EMixed
Feb 9, 12:0020.3S 41.7ETropical storm
Feb 9, 18:0020.1S 41.7ETropical storm
Feb 10, 00:0020.0S 41.7ETropical storm
Feb 10, 06:0019.8S 41.6EMixed
Feb 10, 12:0019.0S 41.7ETropical storm
Feb 10, 18:0018.0S 42.0ETropical storm
Feb 11, 00:0017.2S 42.5ETropical storm
Feb 11, 06:0016.9S 43.0EMixed
Feb 11, 12:0017.1S 43.4ETropical storm
Feb 11, 18:0017.4S 43.8ETropical storm
Feb 12, 00:0017.7S 44.1ETropical storm
Feb 12, 06:0018.1S 44.2EMixed
Feb 12, 12:0018.6S 44.2EMixed
Feb 12, 18:0019.0S 44.2ETropical storm
Feb 13, 00:0019.3S 44.2ETropical storm
Feb 13, 06:0019.4S 44.1ETropical storm
Feb 13, 12:0019.5S 43.4ETropical storm
Feb 13, 18:0019.6S 42.5ETropical storm
Feb 14, 00:0019.7S 42.5ETropical storm
Feb 14, 06:0019.9S 43.0ETropical storm

Other South Indian 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. This storm’s winds are ten-minute averages from its regional agency. They read about 12 percent lower than the one-minute winds US agencies use, so a Saffir-Simpson category is not given for it.

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.