The 1979 season

Unnamed tropical depression (1979)

Unnamed tropical depression peaked at 30 kt in the Western Pacific between May 17, 1979 and May 26, 1979, with a lowest pressure of 992 mb.

Radar

Reflectivity now over Unnamed tropical depression. 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
May 17, 1979 to May 26, 1979
Peak strength
Tropical Depression, 30 kt (35 mph)
Lowest pressure
992 mb (29.29 inHg)
Landfall
No; closest approach 39 km (24 mi)
Accumulated cyclone energy
0.0
Identifier
WP051979

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
May 17, 00:0019.1N 115.7E20 ktTropical storm
May 17, 06:0018.8N 115.0E20 ktTropical storm
May 17, 12:0018.6N 114.5E20 ktTropical storm
May 17, 18:0018.2N 114.2E20 ktTropical storm
May 18, 00:0017.8N 114.0E25 ktTropical storm
May 18, 06:0017.3N 113.8E25 ktTropical storm
May 18, 12:0016.7N 113.7E20 ktTropical storm
May 18, 18:0016.2N 113.4E20 ktTropical storm
May 19, 00:0015.8N 112.9E15 kt1004 mbTropical storm
May 19, 06:0015.5N 112.5E15 kt1004 mbTropical storm
May 19, 12:0015.3N 112.2E15 kt1004 mbMixed
May 19, 18:0015.1N 111.9E15 kt1004 mbMixed
May 20, 00:0015.0N 111.6E20 kt1004 mbTropical storm
May 20, 06:0015.7N 112.2E20 kt1004 mbTropical storm
May 20, 12:0016.5N 112.9E20 kt1004 mbTropical storm
May 20, 18:0017.6N 113.2E20 kt1004 mbTropical storm
May 21, 00:0018.6N 113.8E20 kt1004 mbTropical storm
May 21, 06:0019.3N 114.6E20 kt1004 mbTropical storm
May 21, 12:0020.1N 115.4E20 kt1004 mbTropical storm
May 21, 18:0020.9N 116.4E20 kt1000 mbTropical storm
May 22, 00:0021.4N 117.7E20 kt998 mbTropical storm
May 22, 06:0021.6N 119.0E20 kt998 mbTropical storm
May 22, 12:0021.7N 120.4E25 kt998 mbTropical storm
May 22, 18:0021.8N 122.3E25 kt998 mbTropical storm
May 23, 00:0022.1N 124.3E25 kt998 mbTropical storm
May 23, 06:0022.5N 126.3E30 kt992 mbTropical storm
May 23, 12:0022.8N 128.6E30 kt992 mbTropical storm
May 23, 18:0023.6N 130.9E30 kt992 mbMixed
May 24, 00:0024.9N 132.9E25 kt996 mbMixed
May 24, 06:0026.6N 134.4E25 kt1000 mbMixed
May 24, 12:0028.2N 136.2E25 kt1004 mbMixed
May 24, 18:0029.8N 138.0E25 kt1004 mbMixed
May 25, 00:0030.9N 142.3E1004 mbExtratropical
May 25, 06:0031.9N 145.0E1008 mbExtratropical
May 25, 12:0033.0N 146.6E1008 mbExtratropical
May 25, 18:0034.0N 148.0E1010 mbExtratropical
May 26, 00:0034.9N 149.4E1010 mbExtratropical
May 26, 06:0035.9N 150.8E1010 mbExtratropical
May 26, 12:0036.9N 152.9E1010 mbExtratropical
May 26, 18:0038.1N 155.1E1010 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.