Tropical Storm Ruth (1980)

Basin

South Pacific

Dates

February 11, 1980 to February 18, 1980

Peak strength

Tropical Storm, 55 kt (63 mph)

Lowest pressure

980 mb (28.94 inHg)

Landfall

No; closest approach 267 km (166 mi)

Accumulated cyclone energy

2.4

Identifier

SH141980

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.

• Tropical Storm OfaSouth Pacific · 1980Tropical Storm55 kt · 980 mb
• Cyclone PeniSouth Pacific · 1980Cat 165 kt · 970 mb
• Tropical Storm PaulSouth Pacific · 1980Tropical Storm60 kt · 985 mb
• Tropical Storm RaeSouth Pacific · 1980Tropical Storm40 kt · 990 mb
• Cyclone SimonSouth Pacific · 1980Cat 3100 kt · 950 mb
• Cyclone SinaSouth Pacific · 1980Cat 170 kt · 970 mb
• Tropical Storm TiaSouth Pacific · 1980Tropical Storm60 kt · 980 mb
• Tropical Storm ValSouth Pacific · 1980Tropical Storm60 kt · 980 mb
• Unnamed tropical stormSouth Pacific · 1980Tropical Storm40 kt · 995 mb
• Tropical Storm WallySouth Pacific · 1980Tropical Storm50 kt · 995 mb

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.

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.