The 1980 season

Typhoon Ruth (1980)

Typhoon Ruth reached Category 1 in the Western Pacific between September 10, 1980 and September 17, 1980, with a lowest pressure of 980 mb, and made landfall.

Track and intensity

The whole track of Typhoon Ruth, 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
Western Pacific
Dates
September 10, 1980 to September 17, 1980
Peak strength
Category 1, 65 kt (75 mph)
Lowest pressure
980 mb (28.94 inHg)
Landfall
Yes
Accumulated cyclone energy
2.2
Identifier
WP181980

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 10, 00:0013.5N 112.0EDisturbance
Sep 10, 06:0014.0N 112.5EDisturbance
Sep 10, 12:0014.5N 113.1EDisturbance
Sep 10, 18:0015.2N 113.3EDisturbance
Sep 11, 00:0016.0N 113.0EDisturbance
Sep 11, 06:0016.4N 113.2EDisturbance
Sep 11, 12:0016.8N 113.0EDisturbance
Sep 11, 18:0017.2N 112.9EDisturbance
Sep 12, 00:0017.5N 113.0ETropical storm
Sep 12, 06:0018.1N 113.6E1002 mbTropical storm
Sep 12, 12:0018.8N 114.4E998 mbTropical storm
Sep 12, 18:0019.0N 114.5E998 mbTropical storm
Sep 13, 00:0019.0N 113.8E30 kt998 mbTropical storm
Sep 13, 06:0018.6N 113.8E30 kt998 mbTropical storm
Sep 13, 12:0018.3N 113.7E30 kt998 mbTropical storm
Sep 13, 18:0018.1N 113.4E35 kt994 mbTropical storm
Sep 14, 00:0018.3N 113.0E40 kt990 mbTropical storm
Sep 14, 06:0018.8N 112.5E40 kt990 mbTropical storm
Sep 14, 12:0019.4N 111.8E40 kt990 mbTropical storm
Sep 14, 18:0019.6N 110.8E45 kt990 mbTropical storm
Sep 15, 00:0019.7N 109.9E35 kt992 mbTropical storm
Sep 15, 06:0019.8N 108.9E45 kt990 mbTropical storm
Sep 15, 12:0019.9N 107.8E60 kt985 mbTropical storm
Sep 15, 18:0019.8N 106.7E65 kt980 mbTropical storm
Sep 16, 00:0019.6N 105.5E55 kt985 mbTropical storm
Sep 16, 06:0019.2N 104.4E30 kt996 mbMixed
Sep 16, 12:0018.8N 102.9E1004 mbTropical storm
Sep 16, 18:0018.0N 101.0E1006 mbExtratropical
Sep 17, 00:0018.0N 100.5E1006 mbExtratropical

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.