The 1979 season

Typhoon Ellis (1979)

Typhoon Ellis reached Category 2 in the Western Pacific between June 23, 1979 and July 7, 1979, with a lowest pressure of 955 mb, and made landfall.

Radar

Reflectivity now over Typhoon Ellis. 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
June 23, 1979 to July 7, 1979
Peak strength
Category 2, 85 kt (98 mph)
Lowest pressure
955 mb (28.20 inHg)
Landfall
Yes
Accumulated cyclone energy
7.7
Identifier
WP061979

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 23, 00:006.5N 143.3ETropical storm
Jun 23, 06:006.6N 142.6ETropical storm
Jun 23, 12:006.7N 142.0ETropical storm
Jun 23, 18:006.9N 141.5ETropical storm
Jun 24, 00:007.0N 141.1ETropical storm
Jun 24, 06:007.0N 140.5ETropical storm
Jun 24, 12:007.1N 139.9ETropical storm
Jun 24, 18:007.3N 139.5ETropical storm
Jun 25, 00:007.5N 139.1ETropical storm
Jun 25, 06:007.7N 138.7ETropical storm
Jun 25, 12:008.0N 138.3ETropical storm
Jun 25, 18:008.2N 138.0ETropical storm
Jun 26, 00:008.5N 137.7ETropical storm
Jun 26, 06:008.7N 137.4ETropical storm
Jun 26, 12:009.0N 137.2ETropical storm
Jun 26, 18:009.2N 137.0ETropical storm
Jun 27, 00:009.5N 136.9ETropical storm
Jun 27, 06:009.7N 136.7ETropical storm
Jun 27, 12:0010.0N 136.5ETropical storm
Jun 27, 18:0010.4N 136.2ETropical storm
Jun 28, 00:0010.9N 135.8E1008 mbMixed
Jun 28, 06:0011.0N 135.3E1006 mbMixed
Jun 28, 12:0011.0N 135.0E1006 mbMixed
Jun 28, 18:0011.2N 135.3E1006 mbMixed
Jun 29, 00:0011.7N 135.4E20 kt1004 mbMixed
Jun 29, 06:0012.2N 135.0E20 kt1004 mbMixed
Jun 29, 12:0012.6N 134.5E20 kt1004 mbMixed
Jun 29, 18:0012.9N 134.2E25 kt1004 mbMixed
Jun 30, 00:0013.2N 133.8E25 kt1002 mbTropical storm
Jun 30, 06:0013.4N 133.5E30 kt1002 mbTropical storm
Jun 30, 12:0013.5N 133.0E30 kt1002 mbTropical storm
Jun 30, 18:0013.6N 132.6E30 kt1000 mbTropical storm
Jul 1, 00:0013.7N 131.9E35 kt1000 mbTropical storm
Jul 1, 06:0013.7N 131.3E40 kt994 mbTropical storm
Jul 1, 12:0013.8N 130.5E40 kt990 mbTropical storm
Jul 1, 18:0013.9N 129.5E50 kt986 mbTropical storm
Jul 2, 00:0014.1N 128.7E55 kt980 mbTropical storm
Jul 2, 06:0014.4N 127.8E60 kt975 mbTropical storm
Jul 2, 12:0015.0N 126.9E65 kt970 mbTropical storm
Jul 2, 18:0015.5N 125.9E75 kt960 mbTropical storm
Jul 3, 00:0016.1N 125.0E85 kt955 mbTropical storm
Jul 3, 06:0016.8N 124.2E80 kt955 mbTropical storm
Jul 3, 12:0017.8N 123.2E80 kt960 mbTropical storm
Jul 3, 18:0018.4N 122.4E70 kt965 mbTropical storm
Jul 4, 00:0019.0N 121.3E65 kt975 mbTropical storm
Jul 4, 06:0019.5N 120.2E60 kt985 mbTropical storm
Jul 4, 12:0019.8N 119.4E60 kt985 mbTropical storm
Jul 4, 18:0020.1N 117.9E60 kt985 mbTropical storm
Jul 5, 00:0020.2N 116.3E55 kt980 mbTropical storm
Jul 5, 06:0020.3N 115.2E55 kt980 mbTropical storm
Jul 5, 12:0020.5N 114.1E55 kt980 mbTropical storm
Jul 5, 18:0021.0N 112.9E50 kt985 mbTropical storm
Jul 6, 00:0021.6N 111.5E45 kt992 mbTropical storm
Jul 6, 06:0022.0N 110.1E25 kt998 mbMixed
Jul 6, 12:0021.6N 109.1E1000 mbMixed
Jul 6, 18:0021.9N 108.1E1000 mbMixed
Jul 7, 00:0022.1N 106.8E1002 mbMixed

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.