The 1980 season

Cyclone Brian (1980)

Cyclone Brian reached Category 2 in the South Indian between January 18, 1980 and January 29, 1980, with a lowest pressure of 930 mb.

Track and intensity

The whole track of Cyclone Brian, colored by strength, with the other storms of the 1980 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 Indian
Dates
January 18, 1980 to January 29, 1980
Peak strength
Category 2, 90 kt (104 mph)
Lowest pressure
930 mb (27.46 inHg)
Landfall
No; closest approach 46 km (29 mi)
Accumulated cyclone energy
13.9
Identifier
SH091980

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
Jan 18, 00:0010.1S 130.4E25 kt1003 mbTropical storm
Jan 18, 06:0011.2S 129.8E25 kt1003 mbTropical storm
Jan 18, 12:0012.2S 128.9E25 kt1002 mbTropical storm
Jan 18, 18:0012.8S 127.7E25 kt1001 mbTropical storm
Jan 19, 00:0013.2S 126.6E25 kt1000 mbTropical storm
Jan 19, 06:0013.4S 125.7E25 kt998 mbTropical storm
Jan 19, 12:0013.3S 125.0E30 kt996 mbTropical storm
Jan 19, 18:0013.7S 123.5E35 kt993 mbTropical storm
Jan 20, 00:0014.0S 122.0E40 kt990 mbTropical storm
Jan 20, 06:0014.3S 120.9E50 kt986 mbTropical storm
Jan 20, 12:0014.5S 119.5E55 kt982 mbTropical storm
Jan 20, 18:0015.2S 117.5E55 kt975 mbTropical storm
Jan 21, 00:0016.0S 115.5E60 kt970 mbTropical storm
Jan 21, 06:0016.1S 113.5E60 kt963 mbTropical storm
Jan 21, 12:0016.2S 111.5E65 kt955 mbTropical storm
Jan 21, 18:0016.6S 110.0E75 kt948 mbTropical storm
Jan 22, 00:0017.0S 108.8E85 kt940 mbTropical storm
Jan 22, 06:0017.4S 107.4E90 kt937 mbTropical storm
Jan 22, 12:0017.8S 106.0E90 kt934 mbTropical storm
Jan 22, 18:0017.9S 104.5E90 kt932 mbTropical storm
Jan 23, 00:0018.0S 103.0E90 kt930 mbTropical storm
Jan 23, 06:0018.5S 101.8E90 kt933 mbTropical storm
Jan 23, 12:0019.2S 100.8E90 kt940 mbTropical storm
Jan 23, 18:0019.9S 99.9E90 kt948 mbTropical storm
Jan 24, 00:0020.8S 99.0E85 kt955 mbTropical storm
Jan 24, 06:0021.8S 97.1E80 kt961 mbTropical storm
Jan 24, 12:0022.8S 95.1E70 kt966 mbTropical storm
Jan 24, 18:0023.8S 94.1E65 kt971 mbTropical storm
Jan 25, 00:0024.8S 93.5E60 kt975 mbTropical storm
Jan 25, 06:0026.2S 93.3E55 kt979 mbTropical storm
Jan 25, 12:0028.0S 93.5E50 kt983 mbTropical storm
Jan 25, 18:0029.3S 92.3E60 kt987 mbTropical storm
Jan 26, 00:0030.4S 92.7E55 kt990 mbTropical storm
Jan 26, 06:0031.2S 93.0E50 kt992 mbTropical storm
Jan 26, 12:0031.7S 93.2E45 kt994 mbTropical storm
Jan 26, 18:0032.1S 93.5E45 kt996 mbTropical storm
Jan 27, 00:0032.4S 93.7E40 kt998 mbMixed
Jan 27, 06:0032.7S 94.1ETropical storm
Jan 27, 12:0032.7S 94.9ETropical storm
Jan 27, 18:0032.2S 95.5ETropical storm
Jan 28, 00:0031.2S 95.0ETropical storm
Jan 28, 06:0031.1S 93.8ETropical storm
Jan 28, 12:0031.1S 91.6ETropical storm
Jan 28, 18:0031.0S 89.4ETropical storm
Jan 29, 00:0030.5S 87.0ETropical storm

Other South Indian 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.