The 1980 season

Hurricane Earl (1980)

Hurricane Earl reached Category 1 in the North Atlantic between September 4, 1980 and September 11, 1980, with a lowest pressure of 985 mb.

Track and intensity

The whole track of Hurricane Earl, 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
North Atlantic
Dates
September 4, 1980 to September 11, 1980
Peak strength
Category 1, 65 kt (75 mph)
Lowest pressure
985 mb (29.09 inHg)
Landfall
No; closest approach 771 km (479 mi)
Accumulated cyclone energy
6.7
Fastest the center moved
38 kt (44 mph)
Identifier
AL101980

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
Sep 4, 12:0017.7N 24.0W25 kt1008 mbTropical depression
Sep 4, 18:0017.4N 25.3W30 kt1006 mbTropical depression
Sep 5, 00:0017.8N 26.7W35 kt1003 mbTropical storm
Sep 5, 06:0018.2N 28.0W40 kt1000 mbTropical storm
Sep 5, 12:0018.8N 29.5W40 kt999 mbTropical storm
Sep 5, 18:0019.2N 31.0W40 kt999 mbTropical storm
Sep 6, 00:0019.7N 32.0W40 kt999 mbTropical storm
Sep 6, 06:0020.3N 33.8W40 kt999 mbTropical storm
Sep 6, 12:0021.0N 35.5W45 kt998 mbTropical storm
Sep 6, 18:0021.5N 36.5W45 kt997 mbTropical storm
Sep 7, 00:0022.2N 37.8W45 kt996 mbTropical storm
Sep 7, 06:0023.2N 38.8W45 kt996 mbTropical storm
Sep 7, 12:0025.0N 39.7W45 kt995 mbTropical storm
Sep 7, 18:0027.0N 40.3W50 kt993 mbTropical storm
Sep 8, 00:0029.0N 41.2W60 kt992 mbTropical storm
Sep 8, 06:0030.4N 42.5W65 kt988 mbHurricane
Sep 8, 12:0032.0N 43.5W65 kt985 mbHurricane
Sep 8, 18:0033.3N 44.1W65 kt986 mbHurricane
Sep 9, 00:0034.7N 44.3W65 kt988 mbHurricane
Sep 9, 06:0036.3N 43.8W65 kt990 mbHurricane
Sep 9, 12:0038.0N 43.1W65 kt991 mbHurricane
Sep 9, 18:0040.5N 41.5W65 kt992 mbHurricane
Sep 10, 00:0043.0N 39.0W65 kt994 mbHurricane
Sep 10, 06:0045.2N 36.0W65 kt995 mbHurricane
Sep 10, 12:0047.5N 32.5W55 ktTropical storm
Sep 10, 18:0049.5N 28.5W55 ktExtratropical
Sep 11, 00:0051.5N 23.5W55 ktExtratropical

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.