The 1980 season

Super Typhoon Kim (1980)

Super Typhoon Kim reached Category 4 in the Western Pacific between July 19, 1980 and July 27, 1980, with a lowest pressure of 910 mb, and made landfall.

Radar

Reflectivity now over Super Typhoon Kim. 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
Western Pacific
Dates
July 19, 1980 to July 27, 1980
Peak strength
Category 4, 130 kt (150 mph)
Lowest pressure
910 mb (26.87 inHg)
Landfall
Yes
Accumulated cyclone energy
11.4
Fastest the center moved
20 kt (23 mph)
Identifier
WP111980

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
Jul 19, 00:007.5N 155.2E15 ktTropical storm
Jul 19, 06:007.8N 153.8E20 ktTropical storm
Jul 19, 12:008.1N 152.5E20 ktMixed
Jul 19, 18:008.2N 151.1E20 ktMixed
Jul 20, 00:008.3N 149.7E25 kt1008 mbTropical storm
Jul 20, 06:008.3N 148.5E25 kt1004 mbTropical storm
Jul 20, 12:008.5N 147.3E30 kt1004 mbTropical storm
Jul 20, 18:009.1N 145.6E30 kt1004 mbTropical storm
Jul 21, 00:009.5N 143.9E30 kt1004 mbTropical storm
Jul 21, 06:0010.0N 141.8E30 kt1004 mbTropical storm
Jul 21, 12:0010.0N 139.7E35 kt1002 mbTropical storm
Jul 21, 18:0010.4N 138.3E35 kt1000 mbTropical storm
Jul 22, 00:0010.9N 136.9E35 kt1000 mbTropical storm
Jul 22, 06:0011.2N 135.3E40 kt996 mbTropical storm
Jul 22, 12:0011.6N 133.7E50 kt992 mbTropical storm
Jul 22, 18:0012.2N 132.3E50 kt990 mbTropical storm
Jul 23, 00:0013.0N 130.8E60 kt980 mbTropical storm
Jul 23, 06:0013.4N 129.4E65 kt980 mbTropical storm
Jul 23, 12:0013.6N 128.3E70 kt975 mbTropical storm
Jul 23, 18:0014.0N 127.1E80 kt965 mbTropical storm
Jul 24, 00:0014.4N 126.1E90 kt950 mbTropical storm
Jul 24, 06:0014.8N 125.4E100 kt925 mbTropical storm
Jul 24, 12:0015.4N 124.6E130 kt910 mbTropical storm
Jul 24, 18:0016.2N 123.5E130 kt910 mbTropical storm
Jul 25, 00:0016.7N 122.6E100 kt950 mbTropical storm
Jul 25, 06:0017.3N 121.6E70 kt970 mbTropical storm
Jul 25, 12:0017.9N 120.5E40 kt980 mbTropical storm
Jul 25, 18:0018.5N 119.6E55 kt990 mbTropical storm
Jul 26, 00:0019.3N 118.7E50 kt990 mbTropical storm
Jul 26, 06:0019.7N 118.3E50 kt990 mbTropical storm
Jul 26, 12:0020.4N 117.5E50 kt990 mbTropical storm
Jul 26, 18:0021.3N 116.8E45 kt990 mbTropical storm
Jul 27, 00:0021.9N 116.3E45 kt990 mbTropical storm
Jul 27, 06:0022.7N 115.8E45 kt992 mbTropical storm
Jul 27, 12:0023.6N 115.5E30 kt996 mbTropical storm
Jul 27, 18:0024.5N 115.3E20 kt1000 mbMixed

Other Western Pacific 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.