The 1979 season

Tropical Storm Ken (1979)

Tropical Storm Ken peaked at 60 kt in the Western Pacific between August 30, 1979 and September 10, 1979, with a lowest pressure of 984 mb, and made landfall.

Track and intensity

The whole track of Tropical Storm Ken, 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.

Open the live map with storms, cones and warnings

The storm

Basin
Western Pacific
Dates
August 30, 1979 to September 10, 1979
Peak strength
Tropical Storm, 60 kt (69 mph)
Lowest pressure
984 mb (29.06 inHg)
Landfall
Yes
Accumulated cyclone energy
1.7
Identifier
WP151979

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 30, 00:0022.3N 142.9E15 ktTropical storm
Aug 30, 06:0022.5N 141.5E15 ktTropical storm
Aug 30, 12:0022.9N 140.1E15 ktTropical storm
Aug 30, 18:0023.3N 138.9E15 kt1006 mbTropical storm
Aug 31, 00:0023.7N 137.8E20 kt1006 mbTropical storm
Aug 31, 06:0024.0N 136.6E20 kt1004 mbTropical storm
Aug 31, 12:0024.4N 135.6E20 kt1004 mbTropical storm
Aug 31, 18:0024.6N 134.8E20 kt1004 mbTropical storm
Sep 1, 00:0024.8N 134.1E25 kt1004 mbTropical storm
Sep 1, 06:0024.9N 133.5E25 kt1004 mbTropical storm
Sep 1, 12:0025.1N 133.0E25 kt1004 mbTropical storm
Sep 1, 18:0025.3N 132.4E25 kt1004 mbTropical storm
Sep 2, 00:0025.8N 131.8E30 kt1002 mbTropical storm
Sep 2, 06:0026.5N 131.2E35 kt1002 mbTropical storm
Sep 2, 12:0027.2N 130.8E40 kt994 mbTropical storm
Sep 2, 18:0027.8N 130.5E40 kt994 mbTropical storm
Sep 3, 00:0028.8N 130.2E45 kt998 mbTropical storm
Sep 3, 06:0030.0N 130.4E60 kt990 mbTropical storm
Sep 3, 12:0031.3N 131.1E55 kt990 mbTropical storm
Sep 3, 18:0032.5N 131.9E45 kt991 mbTropical storm
Sep 4, 00:0034.0N 133.5E30 kt992 mbTropical storm
Sep 4, 06:0035.2N 134.8E25 kt992 mbTropical storm
Sep 4, 12:0036.5N 136.5E25 kt992 mbTropical storm
Sep 4, 18:0038.6N 139.5E40 kt990 mbTropical storm
Sep 5, 00:0040.9N 142.8E990 mbExtratropical
Sep 5, 06:0042.5N 144.8E988 mbExtratropical
Sep 5, 12:0044.0N 147.3E988 mbExtratropical
Sep 5, 18:0045.1N 148.6E984 mbExtratropical
Sep 6, 00:0046.0N 150.0E984 mbExtratropical
Sep 6, 06:0047.0N 152.4E988 mbExtratropical
Sep 6, 12:0047.3N 155.0E990 mbExtratropical
Sep 6, 18:0048.2N 158.1E996 mbExtratropical
Sep 7, 00:0049.1N 161.0E998 mbExtratropical
Sep 7, 06:0049.6N 162.2E1000 mbExtratropical
Sep 7, 12:0050.1N 163.5E1000 mbExtratropical
Sep 7, 18:0050.8N 164.8E1000 mbExtratropical
Sep 8, 00:0051.4N 165.8E1000 mbExtratropical
Sep 8, 06:0052.1N 167.1E1000 mbExtratropical
Sep 8, 12:0053.0N 168.1E998 mbExtratropical
Sep 8, 18:0054.0N 169.1E996 mbExtratropical
Sep 9, 00:0055.0N 169.9E996 mbExtratropical
Sep 9, 06:0056.0N 170.7E996 mbExtratropical
Sep 9, 12:0057.0N 171.5E996 mbExtratropical
Sep 9, 18:0058.0N 172.0E996 mbExtratropical
Sep 10, 00:0058.8N 172.0E1000 mbExtratropical
Sep 10, 06:0059.0N 171.6E1004 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.