The 1980 season

Hurricane Allen (1980)

Hurricane Allen reached Category 5 in the North Atlantic between July 31, 1980 and August 11, 1980, with a lowest pressure of 899 mb, and made landfall.

Radar

Reflectivity now over Hurricane Allen. 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
North Atlantic
Dates
July 31, 1980 to August 11, 1980
Peak strength
Category 5, 165 kt (190 mph)
Lowest pressure
899 mb (26.55 inHg)
Landfall
Yes
Accumulated cyclone energy
52.3
Fastest the center moved
23 kt (26 mph)
Identifier
AL041980

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.

Rainfall

The Weather Prediction Center attributes 308 rain gauge totals over the contiguous United States to this storm. The wettest reached 20.20 inches (513 mm).

StationTotalPosition
KINGSVILLE20.20 in (513 mm)27.50N 97.82W
KINGSVILLE17.28 in (439 mm)27.52N 97.87W
ALICE13.88 in (353 mm)27.73N 98.07W
BEEVILLE 5 NE13.55 in (344 mm)28.45N 97.70W
CORPUS CHRISTI INTL ARPT13.27 in (337 mm)27.77N 97.52W
GEORGE WEST 2 SSW13.13 in (334 mm)28.30N 98.12W
FALFURRIAS12.83 in (326 mm)27.22N 98.13W
MCALLEN12.60 in (320 mm)26.20N 98.25W
SARITA 7 E11.20 in (284 mm)27.22N 97.68W
THREE RIVERS10.90 in (277 mm)28.47N 98.18W
ROBSTOWN10.89 in (277 mm)27.78N 97.67W
CHAPMAN RANCH10.80 in (274 mm)27.58N 97.45W

WPC’s storm rainfall file, 1900 to 2020, compiled by David Roth.

Track

Time (UTC)PositionWindPressureStatus
Jul 31, 12:0011.0N 30.0W25 ktDisturbance
Jul 31, 18:0010.9N 32.2W25 ktDisturbance
Aug 1, 00:0010.8N 34.3W30 kt1010 mbTropical depression
Aug 1, 06:0010.7N 36.4W30 kt1009 mbTropical depression
Aug 1, 12:0010.7N 38.6W30 kt1008 mbTropical depression
Aug 1, 18:0010.7N 40.7W30 kt1006 mbTropical depression
Aug 2, 00:0011.0N 42.8W35 kt1005 mbTropical storm
Aug 2, 06:0011.4N 44.8W45 kt1000 mbTropical storm
Aug 2, 12:0011.9N 46.9W55 kt995 mbTropical storm
Aug 2, 18:0012.3N 49.1W60 kt990 mbTropical storm
Aug 3, 00:0012.4N 51.4W65 kt985 mbHurricane
Aug 3, 06:0012.6N 53.6W70 kt980 mbHurricane
Aug 3, 12:0012.8N 55.6W80 kt975 mbHurricane
Aug 3, 18:0012.9N 57.5W95 kt965 mbHurricane
Aug 4, 00:0013.3N 59.1W110 kt950 mbHurricane
Aug 4, 06:0013.6N 61.0W115 kt948 mbHurricane
Aug 4, 12:0014.0N 63.0W125 kt945 mbHurricane
Aug 4, 18:0014.4N 64.9W130 kt930 mbHurricane
Aug 5, 00:0014.8N 66.7W140 kt911 mbHurricane
Aug 5, 06:0015.4N 68.6W145 kt916 mbHurricane
Aug 5, 12:0015.9N 70.5W155 kt932 mbHurricane
Aug 5, 18:0016.5N 72.3W150 kt940 mbHurricane
Aug 6, 00:0017.8N 73.8W140 kt945 mbHurricane
Aug 6, 06:0018.3N 75.9W115 kt955 mbHurricane
Aug 6, 12:0019.2N 78.0W115 kt955 mbHurricane
Aug 6, 18:0020.0N 80.1W125 kt955 mbHurricane
Aug 7, 00:0020.1N 81.9W135 kt945 mbHurricane
Aug 7, 06:0020.4N 83.6W145 kt935 mbHurricane
Aug 7, 12:0021.0N 84.8W155 kt910 mbHurricane
Aug 7, 18:0021.8N 86.4W165 kt899 mbHurricane
Aug 8, 00:0022.2N 87.9W155 kt920 mbHurricane
Aug 8, 06:0022.8N 89.2W130 kt945 mbHurricane
Aug 8, 12:0023.4N 90.5W115 kt960 mbHurricane
Aug 8, 18:0023.9N 91.8W130 kt940 mbHurricane
Aug 9, 00:0024.5N 93.0W145 kt912 mbHurricane
Aug 9, 06:0025.0N 94.2W155 kt909 mbHurricane
Aug 9, 12:0025.2N 95.4W140 kt916 mbHurricane
Aug 9, 18:0025.4N 96.1W125 kt925 mbHurricane
Aug 10, 00:0025.8N 96.8W110 kt935 mbHurricane
Aug 10, 06:0026.1N 97.2W100 kt945 mbHurricane
Aug 10, 12:0026.7N 98.1W85 kt960 mbHurricane
Aug 10, 18:0027.3N 99.0W70 kt970 mbHurricane
Aug 11, 00:0027.7N 99.8W60 kt990 mbTropical storm
Aug 11, 06:0028.0N 100.9W45 kt1000 mbTropical storm
Aug 11, 12:0028.5N 101.9W30 kt1005 mbTropical depression
Aug 11, 18:0028.9N 102.9W30 kt1008 mbTropical depression

Other North Atlantic storms of 1980

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.

The National Hurricane Center has published no tropical cyclone report for this storm.