The 1980 season

Cyclone Fred (1980)

Cyclone Fred reached Category 2 in the South Indian between February 20, 1980 and February 28, 1980, with a lowest pressure of 930 mb.

Track and intensity

The whole track of Cyclone Fred, 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
February 20, 1980 to February 28, 1980
Peak strength
Category 2, 95 kt (109 mph)
Lowest pressure
930 mb (27.46 inHg)
Landfall
No; closest approach 614 km (382 mi)
Accumulated cyclone energy
14.9
Identifier
SH161980

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
Feb 20, 00:0011.6S 102.3E20 kt1005 mbTropical storm
Feb 20, 06:0011.7S 102.6E25 kt1002 mbTropical storm
Feb 20, 12:0012.0S 103.5E40 kt1000 mbMixed
Feb 20, 18:0012.4S 103.6E40 kt997 mbMixed
Feb 21, 00:0012.7S 103.6E45 kt994 mbTropical storm
Feb 21, 06:0013.0S 103.4E50 kt989 mbTropical storm
Feb 21, 12:0013.3S 103.1E55 kt984 mbTropical storm
Feb 21, 18:0013.6S 102.4E70 kt978 mbTropical storm
Feb 22, 00:0013.7S 101.8E80 kt971 mbTropical storm
Feb 22, 06:0013.6S 101.5E85 kt964 mbTropical storm
Feb 22, 12:0013.5S 101.2E85 kt956 mbTropical storm
Feb 22, 18:0013.4S 100.8E85 kt950 mbTropical storm
Feb 23, 00:0013.5S 100.2E85 kt945 mbTropical storm
Feb 23, 06:0013.7S 99.4E85 kt940 mbTropical storm
Feb 23, 12:0014.0S 98.5E90 kt936 mbTropical storm
Feb 23, 18:0014.2S 97.4E90 kt930 mbTropical storm
Feb 24, 00:0014.5S 96.2E90 kt930 mbTropical storm
Feb 24, 06:0014.9S 94.7E90 kt930 mbTropical storm
Feb 24, 12:0015.5S 93.2E85 kt930 mbTropical storm
Feb 24, 18:0016.2S 92.1E90 kt930 mbTropical storm
Feb 25, 00:0016.8S 91.0E95 kt930 mbTropical storm
Feb 25, 06:0017.4S 90.0E90 kt930 mbTropical storm
Feb 25, 12:0018.0S 89.0E80 kt930 mbTropical storm
Feb 25, 18:0018.6S 87.8E70 kt938 mbTropical storm
Feb 26, 00:0019.3S 86.8E60 kt945 mbTropical storm
Feb 26, 06:0020.4S 86.8E55 kt954 mbTropical storm
Feb 26, 12:0021.5S 87.0E55 kt963 mbTropical storm
Feb 26, 18:0021.6S 87.0E45 kt969 mbTropical storm
Feb 27, 00:0021.7S 87.0E35 kt975 mbTropical storm
Feb 27, 06:0022.8S 86.8E30 kt982 mbTropical storm
Feb 27, 12:0024.0S 86.5E25 kt988 mbTropical storm
Feb 27, 18:0025.3S 87.0E40 kt994 mbTropical storm
Feb 28, 00:0026.7S 88.1E30 kt1000 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.