The 1979 season

Super Typhoon Judy (1979)

Super Typhoon Judy reached Category 4 in the Western Pacific between August 15, 1979 and August 27, 1979, with a lowest pressure of 910 mb, and made landfall.

Radar

Reflectivity now over Super Typhoon Judy. 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 15, 1979 to August 27, 1979
Peak strength
Category 4, 135 kt (155 mph)
Lowest pressure
910 mb (26.87 inHg)
Landfall
Yes
Accumulated cyclone energy
28.6
Identifier
WP131979

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 15, 12:0010.5N 151.0E15 ktTropical storm
Aug 15, 18:0011.3N 150.1E15 ktTropical storm
Aug 16, 00:0011.8N 149.0E15 kt1006 mbMixed
Aug 16, 06:0012.3N 147.6E15 kt1006 mbTropical storm
Aug 16, 12:0012.8N 146.1E25 kt1004 mbTropical storm
Aug 16, 18:0013.3N 144.7E30 kt1000 mbTropical storm
Aug 17, 00:0013.8N 143.4E35 kt998 mbTropical storm
Aug 17, 06:0014.2N 142.2E35 kt994 mbTropical storm
Aug 17, 12:0014.5N 141.1E40 kt990 mbTropical storm
Aug 17, 18:0015.0N 140.0E50 kt985 mbTropical storm
Aug 18, 00:0015.7N 139.0E55 kt985 mbTropical storm
Aug 18, 06:0016.4N 138.2E75 kt965 mbTropical storm
Aug 18, 12:0017.1N 137.3E80 kt945 mbTropical storm
Aug 18, 18:0017.6N 136.4E90 kt935 mbTropical storm
Aug 19, 00:0018.2N 135.8E110 kt930 mbTropical storm
Aug 19, 06:0019.0N 135.1E115 kt925 mbTropical storm
Aug 19, 12:0019.7N 134.7E120 kt920 mbTropical storm
Aug 19, 18:0020.5N 134.4E125 kt915 mbTropical storm
Aug 20, 00:0021.3N 133.8E130 kt910 mbTropical storm
Aug 20, 06:0022.2N 133.2E135 kt910 mbTropical storm
Aug 20, 12:0022.7N 132.6E135 kt925 mbTropical storm
Aug 20, 18:0023.1N 131.9E125 kt935 mbTropical storm
Aug 21, 00:0023.4N 131.1E120 kt940 mbTropical storm
Aug 21, 06:0024.2N 130.6E110 kt945 mbTropical storm
Aug 21, 12:0024.3N 129.6E100 kt945 mbTropical storm
Aug 21, 18:0024.4N 128.9E100 kt945 mbTropical storm
Aug 22, 00:0024.4N 128.0E95 kt950 mbTropical storm
Aug 22, 06:0024.4N 127.5E90 kt950 mbTropical storm
Aug 22, 12:0024.5N 127.0E90 kt950 mbTropical storm
Aug 22, 18:0025.1N 126.3E85 kt945 mbTropical storm
Aug 23, 00:0025.8N 125.6E85 kt945 mbTropical storm
Aug 23, 06:0026.9N 124.5E85 kt950 mbTropical storm
Aug 23, 12:0027.5N 123.7E85 kt950 mbTropical storm
Aug 23, 18:0028.2N 123.2E80 kt950 mbTropical storm
Aug 24, 00:0028.7N 122.9E80 kt960 mbTropical storm
Aug 24, 06:0029.3N 122.6E70 kt960 mbTropical storm
Aug 24, 12:0029.8N 122.6E60 kt965 mbTropical storm
Aug 24, 18:0030.4N 122.7E55 kt970 mbTropical storm
Aug 25, 00:0030.9N 123.1E55 kt970 mbTropical storm
Aug 25, 06:0031.4N 123.6E50 kt975 mbTropical storm
Aug 25, 12:0031.8N 124.2E40 kt980 mbTropical storm
Aug 25, 18:0032.5N 125.1E30 kt985 mbTropical storm
Aug 26, 00:0033.2N 126.1E25 kt990 mbTropical storm
Aug 26, 06:0033.9N 127.1E25 kt990 mbTropical storm
Aug 26, 12:0034.4N 128.5E20 kt994 mbMixed
Aug 26, 18:0035.4N 130.5E994 mbTropical storm
Aug 27, 00:0037.0N 130.8ETropical 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.