The 1980 season

Tropical Storm Danitza:Wilf (1980)

Tropical Storm Danitza:Wilf peaked at 55 kt in the South Indian between December 23, 1979 and January 2, 1980, with a lowest pressure of 973 mb.

Radar

Reflectivity now over Tropical Storm Danitza:Wilf. 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
South Indian
Dates
December 23, 1979 to January 2, 1980
Peak strength
Tropical Storm, 55 kt (63 mph)
Lowest pressure
973 mb (28.73 inHg)
Landfall
No; closest approach 1009 km (627 mi)
Accumulated cyclone energy
4.8
Identifier
SH041980

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
Dec 23, 00:009.8S 94.9E20 kt1005 mbTropical storm
Dec 23, 06:0010.0S 94.7E20 kt1004 mbTropical storm
Dec 23, 12:0010.2S 94.4E20 kt1004 mbTropical storm
Dec 23, 18:0010.4S 94.2E25 kt1003 mbTropical storm
Dec 24, 00:0010.7S 93.9E25 kt1003 mbTropical storm
Dec 24, 06:0010.8S 93.6E25 kt1002 mbTropical storm
Dec 24, 12:0013.0S 93.0E30 kt1001 mbTropical storm
Dec 24, 18:0012.6S 92.5E30 kt999 mbTropical storm
Dec 25, 00:0012.2S 91.8E30 kt998 mbTropical storm
Dec 25, 06:0011.8S 90.9E30 kt995 mbTropical storm
Dec 25, 12:0011.5S 90.0E30 kt990 mbTropical storm
Dec 25, 18:0011.4S 89.6E30 kt985 mbTropical storm
Dec 26, 00:0011.4S 89.3E35 kt980 mbTropical storm
Dec 26, 06:0011.6S 89.0E35 kt980 mbTropical storm
Dec 26, 12:0012.0S 89.0E35 kt980 mbTropical storm
Dec 26, 18:0013.0S 89.7E35 kt980 mbTropical storm
Dec 27, 00:0013.8S 90.6E40 kt980 mbTropical storm
Dec 27, 06:0014.1S 90.9E40 kt980 mbTropical storm
Dec 27, 12:0014.3S 91.3E45 kt980 mbTropical storm
Dec 27, 18:0014.5S 91.7E45 kt979 mbTropical storm
Dec 28, 00:0014.7S 92.2E45 kt976 mbTropical storm
Dec 28, 06:0015.3S 92.6E50 kt973 mbTropical storm
Dec 28, 12:0016.0S 93.1E55 kt973 mbTropical storm
Dec 28, 18:0016.5S 93.0E55 kt975 mbTropical storm
Dec 29, 00:0016.8S 92.2E55 kt988 mbTropical storm
Dec 29, 06:0016.6S 91.2E50 kt989 mbTropical storm
Dec 29, 12:0016.3S 90.4E45 kt989 mbTropical storm
Dec 29, 18:0016.5S 89.9E40 kt988 mbTropical storm
Dec 30, 00:0016.7S 89.5E40 kt988 mbTropical storm
Dec 30, 06:0016.5S 89.1E40 kt988 mbTropical storm
Dec 30, 12:0016.3S 88.5E40 kt988 mbTropical storm
Dec 30, 18:0016.4S 87.6E40 kt988 mbTropical storm
Dec 31, 00:0016.5S 86.5E40 kt988 mbTropical storm
Dec 31, 06:0016.3S 85.6E45 kt990 mbTropical storm
Dec 31, 12:0016.2S 84.6E45 kt991 mbTropical storm
Dec 31, 18:0016.1S 83.3E40 kt992 mbTropical storm
Jan 1, 00:0016.1S 82.0E35 kt993 mbTropical storm
Jan 1, 06:0016.1S 81.0E35 ktTropical storm
Jan 1, 12:0016.1S 79.9E30 ktTropical storm
Jan 1, 18:0016.1S 78.6E30 ktTropical storm
Jan 2, 00:0016.0S 77.2E25 kt1000 mbTropical storm
Jan 2, 06:0015.8S 76.0E25 ktTropical storm
Jan 2, 12:0015.5S 75.0E25 ktTropical 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.