The 1979 season

Typhoon Irving (1979)

Typhoon Irving reached Category 2 in the Western Pacific between August 7, 1979 and August 20, 1979, with a lowest pressure of 955 mb, and made landfall.

Radar

Reflectivity now over Typhoon Irving. 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
August 7, 1979 to August 20, 1979
Peak strength
Category 2, 90 kt (104 mph)
Lowest pressure
955 mb (28.20 inHg)
Landfall
Yes
Accumulated cyclone energy
13.1
Identifier
WP121979

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
Aug 7, 00:0015.0N 138.0E1004 mbTropical storm
Aug 7, 06:0015.3N 137.9E1002 mbTropical storm
Aug 7, 12:0014.0N 137.7E20 kt1002 mbTropical storm
Aug 7, 18:0015.0N 138.0E20 kt1000 mbTropical storm
Aug 8, 00:0015.6N 138.1E25 kt998 mbTropical storm
Aug 8, 06:0016.4N 138.0E25 kt998 mbTropical storm
Aug 8, 12:0016.8N 137.5E25 kt998 mbTropical storm
Aug 8, 18:0017.4N 136.6E25 kt998 mbTropical storm
Aug 9, 00:0017.7N 136.0E30 kt996 mbTropical storm
Aug 9, 06:0018.0N 135.5E30 kt994 mbTropical storm
Aug 9, 12:0018.2N 134.8E30 kt994 mbTropical storm
Aug 9, 18:0018.3N 134.2E30 kt994 mbTropical storm
Aug 10, 00:0018.4N 133.3E30 kt996 mbTropical storm
Aug 10, 06:0018.4N 132.2E30 kt996 mbTropical storm
Aug 10, 12:0018.3N 131.1E30 kt994 mbTropical storm
Aug 10, 18:0018.0N 129.7E30 kt994 mbTropical storm
Aug 11, 00:0017.2N 128.6E30 kt994 mbTropical storm
Aug 11, 06:0016.5N 128.5E35 kt990 mbTropical storm
Aug 11, 12:0016.9N 129.0E40 kt990 mbTropical storm
Aug 11, 18:0017.5N 128.4E45 kt985 mbTropical storm
Aug 12, 00:0017.8N 127.6E50 kt985 mbTropical storm
Aug 12, 06:0018.4N 127.1E55 kt980 mbTropical storm
Aug 12, 12:0018.7N 126.9E55 kt980 mbTropical storm
Aug 12, 18:0019.2N 126.8E60 kt975 mbTropical storm
Aug 13, 00:0020.0N 126.7E65 kt975 mbTropical storm
Aug 13, 06:0021.1N 126.6E70 kt970 mbTropical storm
Aug 13, 12:0022.0N 126.0E70 kt965 mbTropical storm
Aug 13, 18:0022.7N 125.2E70 kt965 mbTropical storm
Aug 14, 00:0023.5N 125.0E75 kt960 mbTropical storm
Aug 14, 06:0024.0N 124.8E75 kt955 mbTropical storm
Aug 14, 12:0024.6N 124.5E80 kt955 mbTropical storm
Aug 14, 18:0025.2N 124.4E85 kt955 mbTropical storm
Aug 15, 00:0025.9N 124.3E90 kt955 mbTropical storm
Aug 15, 06:0026.9N 124.1E90 kt955 mbTropical storm
Aug 15, 12:0027.5N 123.7E90 kt955 mbTropical storm
Aug 15, 18:0028.5N 123.7E90 kt955 mbTropical storm
Aug 16, 00:0029.6N 123.7E90 kt955 mbTropical storm
Aug 16, 06:0030.6N 123.7E90 kt955 mbTropical storm
Aug 16, 12:0031.7N 123.7E85 kt955 mbTropical storm
Aug 16, 18:0032.8N 124.0E80 kt960 mbTropical storm
Aug 17, 00:0034.0N 125.0E70 kt965 mbTropical storm
Aug 17, 06:0035.6N 126.7E55 kt970 mbTropical storm
Aug 17, 12:0037.1N 128.9E30 kt975 mbTropical storm
Aug 17, 18:0039.5N 131.4E25 kt975 mbTropical storm
Aug 18, 00:0042.0N 133.5E25 kt975 mbMixed
Aug 18, 06:0044.2N 135.3E25 kt975 mbMixed
Aug 18, 12:0046.4N 138.5E974 mbMixed
Aug 18, 18:0047.4N 140.0E974 mbExtratropical
Aug 19, 00:0048.1N 141.5E978 mbExtratropical
Aug 19, 06:0050.0N 144.1E982 mbExtratropical
Aug 19, 12:0052.1N 147.3E980 mbExtratropical
Aug 19, 18:0054.1N 150.6E980 mbExtratropical
Aug 20, 00:0056.1N 154.0E980 mbExtratropical
Aug 20, 06:0057.0N 155.2E980 mbExtratropical
Aug 20, 12:0056.6N 157.3E982 mbExtratropical

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.