The 1979 season

Tropical Storm Stan (1979)

Tropical Storm Stan peaked at 35 kt in the South Pacific between April 3, 1979 and April 17, 1979, with a lowest pressure of 995 mb, and made landfall.

Track and intensity

The whole track of Tropical Storm Stan, 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
South Pacific
Dates
April 3, 1979 to April 17, 1979
Peak strength
Tropical Storm, 35 kt (40 mph), ten-minute wind
Lowest pressure
995 mb (29.38 inHg)
Landfall
Yes
Accumulated cyclone energy
0.0
Identifier
SH241979

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
Apr 3, 00:007.8S 156.0ETropical storm
Apr 3, 06:008.2S 155.9ETropical storm
Apr 3, 12:008.6S 155.8ETropical storm
Apr 3, 18:009.0S 155.7ETropical storm
Apr 4, 00:009.4S 155.6ETropical storm
Apr 4, 06:009.9S 155.2ETropical storm
Apr 4, 12:0010.5S 154.5ETropical storm
Apr 4, 18:0010.9S 153.9ETropical storm
Apr 5, 00:0011.2S 153.3ETropical storm
Apr 5, 06:0011.3S 152.6ETropical storm
Apr 5, 12:0011.4S 151.8ETropical storm
Apr 5, 18:0011.5S 151.2ETropical storm
Apr 6, 00:0011.5S 150.5ETropical storm
Apr 6, 06:0011.5S 149.7ETropical storm
Apr 6, 12:0011.5S 148.8ETropical storm
Apr 6, 18:0011.5S 148.2ETropical storm
Apr 7, 00:0011.5S 147.5ETropical storm
Apr 7, 06:0011.5S 146.6ETropical storm
Apr 7, 12:0011.6S 145.6ETropical storm
Apr 7, 18:0011.6S 144.8ETropical storm
Apr 8, 00:0011.7S 144.0ETropical storm
Apr 8, 06:0011.7S 143.3ETropical storm
Apr 8, 12:0011.7S 142.7ETropical storm
Apr 8, 18:0011.6S 142.1ETropical storm
Apr 9, 00:0011.5S 141.5ETropical storm
Apr 9, 06:0011.5S 140.9ETropical storm
Apr 9, 12:0011.5S 140.4ETropical storm
Apr 9, 18:0011.4S 139.8ETropical storm
Apr 10, 00:0011.3S 139.2ETropical storm
Apr 10, 06:0011.2S 138.4ETropical storm
Apr 10, 12:0011.2S 137.5ETropical storm
Apr 10, 18:0011.1S 136.7ETropical storm
Apr 11, 00:0010.9S 136.0ETropical storm
Apr 11, 06:0010.4S 135.5ETropical storm
Apr 11, 12:009.9S 135.5ETropical storm
Apr 11, 18:009.9S 136.2ETropical storm
Apr 12, 00:0010.0S 137.0ETropical storm
Apr 12, 06:0010.1S 137.2ETropical storm
Apr 12, 12:0010.2S 137.5ETropical storm
Apr 12, 18:0010.3S 137.8ETropical storm
Apr 13, 00:0010.4S 138.2ETropical storm
Apr 13, 06:0010.6S 138.6ETropical storm
Apr 13, 12:0010.8S 139.0ETropical storm
Apr 13, 18:0011.0S 139.4ETropical storm
Apr 14, 00:0011.2S 140.2ETropical storm
Apr 14, 06:0011.9S 141.7ETropical storm
Apr 14, 12:0012.7S 143.3ETropical storm
Apr 14, 18:0013.0S 144.9ETropical storm
Apr 15, 00:0013.3S 146.5ETropical storm
Apr 15, 06:0013.9S 148.6ETropical storm
Apr 15, 12:0014.5S 150.9ETropical storm
Apr 15, 18:0014.8S 152.7ETropical storm
Apr 16, 00:0015.0S 154.7ETropical storm
Apr 16, 06:0015.1S 157.5ETropical storm
Apr 16, 12:0015.2S 160.3ETropical storm
Apr 16, 18:0015.3S 163.0ETropical storm
Apr 17, 00:0015.3S 165.6EMixed

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. This storm’s winds are ten-minute averages from its regional agency. They read about 12 percent lower than the one-minute winds US agencies use, so a Saffir-Simpson category is not given for it.

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.