The 1980 season

Hurricane Karl (1980)

Hurricane Karl reached Category 1 in the North Atlantic between November 25, 1980 and November 28, 1980, with a lowest pressure of 985 mb.

Track and intensity

The whole track of Hurricane Karl, 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
North Atlantic
Dates
November 25, 1980 to November 28, 1980
Peak strength
Category 1, 75 kt (86 mph)
Lowest pressure
985 mb (29.09 inHg)
Landfall
No; closest approach 1209 km (751 mi)
Accumulated cyclone energy
4.4
Fastest the center moved
29 kt (33 mph)
Identifier
AL181980

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
Nov 25, 00:0036.0N 46.0W50 kt988 mbSubtropical storm
Nov 25, 06:0036.8N 44.8W50 kt988 mbSubtropical storm
Nov 25, 12:0037.2N 44.5W55 kt988 mbSubtropical storm
Nov 25, 18:0037.7N 44.7W65 kt988 mbHurricane
Nov 26, 00:0037.4N 44.8W70 kt988 mbHurricane
Nov 26, 06:0037.0N 44.2W75 kt985 mbHurricane
Nov 26, 12:0036.8N 42.5W75 kt985 mbHurricane
Nov 26, 18:0037.1N 40.5W75 kt985 mbHurricane
Nov 27, 00:0037.8N 38.3W70 kt988 mbHurricane
Nov 27, 06:0038.9N 36.5W65 kt990 mbHurricane
Nov 27, 12:0040.4N 34.9W65 kt990 mbHurricane
Nov 27, 18:0042.3N 33.1W65 kt990 mbHurricane
Nov 28, 00:0045.0N 32.0W65 kt990 mbExtratropical

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.