The 1979 season

Tropical Storm Gordon (1979)

Tropical Storm Gordon peaked at 60 kt in the Western Pacific between July 25, 1979 and July 31, 1979, with a lowest pressure of 975 mb, and made landfall.

Track and intensity

The whole track of Tropical Storm Gordon, 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
Western Pacific
Dates
July 25, 1979 to July 31, 1979
Peak strength
Tropical Storm, 60 kt (69 mph)
Lowest pressure
975 mb (28.79 inHg)
Landfall
Yes
Accumulated cyclone energy
2.9
Identifier
WP101979

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
Jul 25, 06:0019.2N 131.5EDisturbance
Jul 25, 12:0018.8N 132.7E15 kt1002 mbTropical storm
Jul 25, 18:0019.0N 131.5E20 kt1002 mbTropical storm
Jul 26, 00:0019.5N 130.6E25 kt1002 mbTropical storm
Jul 26, 06:0019.9N 129.7E30 kt1000 mbTropical storm
Jul 26, 12:0020.2N 128.7E35 kt1000 mbTropical storm
Jul 26, 18:0020.4N 127.5E40 kt998 mbTropical storm
Jul 27, 00:0020.5N 126.2E40 kt994 mbTropical storm
Jul 27, 06:0020.6N 125.3E45 kt992 mbTropical storm
Jul 27, 12:0020.8N 124.2E50 kt990 mbTropical storm
Jul 27, 18:0020.8N 122.8E55 kt985 mbTropical storm
Jul 28, 00:0020.9N 121.7E60 kt980 mbTropical storm
Jul 28, 06:0021.3N 120.8E60 kt980 mbTropical storm
Jul 28, 12:0022.0N 120.1E55 kt975 mbTropical storm
Jul 28, 18:0022.5N 118.8E50 kt975 mbTropical storm
Jul 29, 00:0022.7N 117.4E50 kt980 mbTropical storm
Jul 29, 06:0023.1N 116.0E45 kt985 mbTropical storm
Jul 29, 12:0023.1N 114.7E20 kt992 mbTropical storm
Jul 29, 18:0022.8N 114.2E994 mbTropical storm
Jul 30, 00:0023.0N 113.5E998 mbMixed
Jul 30, 06:0023.0N 112.0E998 mbMixed
Jul 30, 12:0023.0N 109.8E998 mbMixed
Jul 30, 18:0024.0N 108.8E998 mbTropical storm
Jul 31, 00:0025.0N 108.7E1000 mbTropical storm
Jul 31, 06:0025.3N 107.2E1000 mbTropical storm

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.