The 1979 season

Typhoon Lola (1979)

Typhoon Lola reached Category 2 in the Western Pacific between August 31, 1979 and September 10, 1979, with a lowest pressure of 950 mb.

Radar

Reflectivity now over Typhoon Lola. 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 31, 1979 to September 10, 1979
Peak strength
Category 2, 90 kt (104 mph)
Lowest pressure
950 mb (28.05 inHg)
Landfall
No; closest approach 697 km (433 mi)
Accumulated cyclone energy
8.4
Identifier
WP161979

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 31, 00:0019.0N 154.4ETropical storm
Aug 31, 06:0019.2N 154.1ETropical storm
Aug 31, 12:0019.5N 153.7ETropical storm
Aug 31, 18:0019.8N 153.3ETropical storm
Sep 1, 00:0019.8N 152.1E1008 mbTropical storm
Sep 1, 06:0020.0N 151.4E1006 mbTropical storm
Sep 1, 12:0020.4N 151.3E1008 mbTropical storm
Sep 1, 18:0020.9N 151.4E1008 mbTropical storm
Sep 2, 00:0021.3N 151.7E25 kt1008 mbTropical storm
Sep 2, 06:0021.5N 151.5E25 kt1008 mbTropical storm
Sep 2, 12:0021.8N 151.4E30 kt1006 mbTropical storm
Sep 2, 18:0022.1N 151.3E30 kt1006 mbTropical storm
Sep 3, 00:0022.4N 151.1E30 kt1006 mbMixed
Sep 3, 06:0022.8N 150.7E30 kt1006 mbTropical storm
Sep 3, 12:0023.1N 150.3E30 kt1002 mbTropical storm
Sep 3, 18:0023.4N 149.7E35 kt1000 mbTropical storm
Sep 4, 00:0023.7N 149.0E45 kt990 mbTropical storm
Sep 4, 06:0024.0N 148.4E50 kt980 mbTropical storm
Sep 4, 12:0024.4N 147.6E65 kt975 mbTropical storm
Sep 4, 18:0024.7N 147.1E70 kt970 mbTropical storm
Sep 5, 00:0025.3N 146.7E75 kt965 mbTropical storm
Sep 5, 06:0025.6N 146.6E75 kt960 mbTropical storm
Sep 5, 12:0026.3N 146.5E75 kt960 mbTropical storm
Sep 5, 18:0026.8N 146.5E80 kt960 mbTropical storm
Sep 6, 00:0027.4N 146.5E85 kt950 mbTropical storm
Sep 6, 06:0027.8N 146.4E90 kt955 mbTropical storm
Sep 6, 12:0028.5N 146.3E90 kt965 mbTropical storm
Sep 6, 18:0029.3N 146.3E80 kt975 mbTropical storm
Sep 7, 00:0030.1N 146.4E65 kt980 mbTropical storm
Sep 7, 06:0030.8N 146.6E60 kt980 mbTropical storm
Sep 7, 12:0031.7N 147.0E55 kt990 mbTropical storm
Sep 7, 18:0033.0N 147.7E45 kt990 mbTropical storm
Sep 8, 00:0034.4N 148.8E40 kt990 mbTropical storm
Sep 8, 06:0035.1N 150.3E35 kt990 mbTropical storm
Sep 8, 12:0035.9N 151.8E30 kt992 mbTropical storm
Sep 8, 18:0036.6N 153.4E30 kt994 mbTropical storm
Sep 9, 00:0037.1N 155.1E30 kt996 mbMixed
Sep 9, 06:0039.2N 159.6E996 mbMixed
Sep 9, 12:0042.0N 164.0E998 mbExtratropical
Sep 9, 18:0041.0N 169.0E998 mbExtratropical
Sep 10, 00:0040.2N 173.7E998 mbExtratropical
Sep 10, 06:0040.0N 178.0E994 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.