The 1979 season

Tropical Storm Henry (1979)

Tropical Storm Henry peaked at 50 kt in the South Pacific between January 27, 1979 and February 5, 1979, with a lowest pressure of 980 mb, and made landfall.

Track and intensity

The whole track of Tropical Storm Henry, 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 27, 1979 to February 5, 1979
Peak strength
Tropical Storm, 50 kt (58 mph)
Lowest pressure
980 mb (28.94 inHg)
Landfall
Yes
Accumulated cyclone energy
5.2
Identifier
SH091979

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 27, 00:0014.5S 166.5E30 ktTropical storm
Jan 27, 06:0014.4S 166.6E30 ktTropical storm
Jan 27, 12:0014.3S 166.5E30 ktTropical storm
Jan 27, 18:0014.2S 166.2E30 ktTropical storm
Jan 28, 00:0014.0S 166.0E30 ktTropical storm
Jan 28, 06:0013.9S 165.9E30 ktTropical storm
Jan 28, 12:0013.8S 165.8E30 ktTropical storm
Jan 28, 18:0013.7S 165.7E30 ktTropical storm
Jan 29, 00:0013.5S 165.5E30 ktTropical storm
Jan 29, 06:0013.2S 165.2E30 ktTropical storm
Jan 29, 12:0013.0S 165.0E35 kt997 mbTropical storm
Jan 29, 18:0013.1S 166.2E35 ktTropical storm
Jan 30, 00:0013.4S 167.8E35 kt997 mbTropical storm
Jan 30, 06:0013.7S 168.5E35 ktTropical storm
Jan 30, 12:0014.1S 169.0E35 kt997 mbTropical storm
Jan 30, 18:0014.6S 169.2E40 ktTropical storm
Jan 31, 00:0015.1S 169.4E40 kt990 mbTropical storm
Jan 31, 06:0015.4S 169.7E40 ktTropical storm
Jan 31, 12:0015.8S 170.0E40 kt990 mbTropical storm
Jan 31, 18:0016.1S 170.0E45 ktTropical storm
Feb 1, 00:0016.5S 170.1E45 kt990 mbTropical storm
Feb 1, 06:0017.1S 170.5E45 ktTropical storm
Feb 1, 12:0018.0S 171.0E45 kt990 mbTropical storm
Feb 1, 18:0019.0S 171.4E50 ktTropical storm
Feb 2, 00:0020.2S 171.8E50 kt990 mbTropical storm
Feb 2, 06:0021.4S 172.2E50 ktTropical storm
Feb 2, 12:0023.0S 172.5E50 kt990 mbTropical storm
Feb 2, 18:0025.5S 172.3E45 ktTropical storm
Feb 3, 00:0028.0S 171.5E45 kt990 mbTropical storm
Feb 3, 06:0030.0S 170.3E45 ktTropical storm
Feb 3, 12:0032.0S 169.0E50 kt980 mbTropical storm
Feb 3, 18:0033.9S 167.5E50 ktTropical storm
Feb 4, 00:0036.0S 166.0E50 kt980 mbTropical storm
Feb 4, 06:0038.4S 165.7E50 ktTropical storm
Feb 4, 12:0041.0S 167.0E45 kt990 mbTropical storm
Feb 4, 18:0043.5S 170.0E45 ktTropical storm
Feb 5, 00:0046.0S 175.0E40 kt990 mbTropical storm

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.