The 1979 season

Tropical Storm Greta (1979)

Tropical Storm Greta peaked at 50 kt in the South Pacific between January 8, 1979 and January 16, 1979, with a lowest pressure of 986 mb, and made landfall.

Track and intensity

The whole track of Tropical Storm Greta, 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 Pacific
Dates
January 8, 1979 to January 16, 1979
Peak strength
Tropical Storm, 50 kt (58 mph)
Lowest pressure
986 mb (29.12 inHg)
Landfall
Yes
Accumulated cyclone energy
2.6
Identifier
SH081979

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
Jan 8, 12:0013.9S 137.2E30 ktTropical storm
Jan 8, 18:0013.7S 137.6E35 ktTropical storm
Jan 9, 00:0013.5S 138.1E35 ktTropical storm
Jan 9, 06:0013.3S 138.6E35 ktTropical storm
Jan 9, 12:0013.1S 139.3E35 ktTropical storm
Jan 9, 18:0013.0S 140.2E45 ktTropical storm
Jan 10, 00:0012.9S 141.1E50 ktTropical storm
Jan 10, 06:0013.0S 142.0E50 ktTropical storm
Jan 10, 12:0013.2S 142.9E45 ktTropical storm
Jan 10, 18:0013.5S 143.4E45 ktTropical storm
Jan 11, 00:0013.8S 143.7E45 ktTropical storm
Jan 11, 06:0014.3S 144.2E45 ktTropical storm
Jan 11, 12:0014.8S 144.7E40 ktTropical storm
Jan 11, 18:0015.1S 144.7E40 ktMixed
Jan 12, 00:0015.5S 144.0E35 ktMixed
Jan 12, 06:0016.1S 142.1E35 ktMixed
Jan 12, 12:0016.7S 140.0E30 ktMixed
Jan 12, 18:0017.1S 139.5E30 ktMixed
Jan 13, 00:0017.5S 140.0E30 ktMixed
Jan 13, 06:0017.8S 139.2EMixed
Jan 13, 12:0018.2S 137.8EExtratropical
Jan 13, 18:0018.8S 136.4EExtratropical
Jan 14, 00:0019.4S 135.0E25 kt996 mbExtratropical
Jan 14, 06:0020.0S 133.9EExtratropical
Jan 14, 12:0020.6S 133.0EExtratropical
Jan 14, 18:0021.2S 132.3EExtratropical
Jan 15, 00:0021.8S 132.0E25 kt996 mbExtratropical
Jan 15, 06:0022.4S 132.0EExtratropical
Jan 15, 12:0022.9S 132.3EExtratropical
Jan 15, 18:0023.3S 132.8EExtratropical
Jan 16, 00:0023.6S 133.2E25 kt995 mbExtratropical
Jan 16, 06:0023.8S 133.5E30 kt992 mbExtratropical

Other South 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.