The 1980 season

Cyclone Dean (1980)

Cyclone Dean reached Category 3 in the South Indian between January 27, 1980 and February 4, 1980, with a lowest pressure of 930 mb, and made landfall.

Track and intensity

The whole track of Cyclone Dean, 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.

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The storm

Basin
South Indian
Dates
January 27, 1980 to February 4, 1980
Peak strength
Category 3, 110 kt (127 mph)
Lowest pressure
930 mb (27.46 inHg)
Landfall
Yes
Accumulated cyclone energy
8.0
Identifier
SH111980

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 27, 00:0010.5S 129.4E25 kt1005 mbTropical storm
Jan 27, 06:0010.8S 129.2E25 kt1002 mbTropical storm
Jan 27, 12:0011.0S 129.0E30 kt1000 mbTropical storm
Jan 27, 18:0011.2S 128.8E35 kt997 mbTropical storm
Jan 28, 00:0011.4S 128.4E40 kt994 mbTropical storm
Jan 28, 06:0011.5S 127.6E50 kt992 mbTropical storm
Jan 28, 12:0011.5S 125.5E30 kt990 mbTropical storm
Jan 28, 18:0012.0S 124.0E30 kt988 mbTropical storm
Jan 29, 00:0012.3S 122.8E35 kt986 mbTropical storm
Jan 29, 06:0012.1S 121.8E35 kt984 mbTropical storm
Jan 29, 12:0012.0S 120.8E40 kt982 mbTropical storm
Jan 29, 18:0012.5S 119.8E45 kt980 mbTropical storm
Jan 30, 00:0013.2S 118.7E50 kt978 mbTropical storm
Jan 30, 06:0014.0S 117.7E60 kt975 mbTropical storm
Jan 30, 12:0014.8S 116.9E65 kt972 mbTropical storm
Jan 30, 18:0015.3S 116.3E70 kt968 mbTropical storm
Jan 31, 00:0015.8S 116.2E70 kt964 mbTropical storm
Jan 31, 06:0016.6S 116.6E75 kt958 mbTropical storm
Jan 31, 12:0017.5S 117.1E85 kt950 mbTropical storm
Jan 31, 18:0018.6S 117.6E85 kt942 mbTropical storm
Feb 1, 00:0019.8S 118.1E75 kt930 mbTropical storm
Feb 1, 06:0021.3S 118.9E90 kt955 mbTropical storm
Feb 1, 12:0023.0S 120.0E70 kt974 mbTropical storm
Feb 1, 18:0023.1S 120.0E50 kt980 mbTropical storm
Feb 2, 00:0023.7S 120.6E45 kt985 mbTropical storm
Feb 2, 06:0024.0S 121.0E45 kt989 mbTropical storm
Feb 2, 12:0024.2S 121.4E40 kt991 mbTropical storm
Feb 2, 18:0024.4S 121.9E35 kt993 mbTropical storm
Feb 3, 00:0024.6S 122.4ETropical storm
Feb 3, 06:0024.7S 123.3E30 kt996 mbTropical storm
Feb 3, 12:0024.8S 124.5E30 kt997 mbTropical storm
Feb 3, 18:0024.7S 125.8E30 kt998 mbTropical storm
Feb 4, 00:0024.3S 126.5E25 kt999 mbTropical 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.