The 1981 season

Cyclone Adelaide:Alice (1981)

Cyclone Adelaide:Alice peaked at 105 kt in the South Indian between November 3, 1980 and November 14, 1980, with a lowest pressure of 940 mb.

Track and intensity

The whole track of Cyclone Adelaide:Alice, colored by strength, with the other storms of the 1981 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
South Indian
Dates
November 3, 1980 to November 14, 1980
Peak strength
Cyclone, 105 kt (121 mph), ten-minute wind
Lowest pressure
940 mb (27.76 inHg)
Landfall
No; closest approach 102 km (63 mi)
Accumulated cyclone energy
14.4
Identifier
SH011981

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 3, 00:004.9S 102.0ETropical storm
Nov 3, 06:005.1S 101.7E20 kt1006 mbTropical storm
Nov 3, 12:005.4S 101.4E20 kt1006 mbTropical storm
Nov 3, 18:005.6S 101.1E20 kt1005 mbTropical storm
Nov 4, 00:005.8S 100.8E25 kt1004 mbTropical storm
Nov 4, 06:006.0S 100.6E25 kt1004 mbTropical storm
Nov 4, 12:006.1S 100.4E25 kt1003 mbTropical storm
Nov 4, 18:006.3S 100.2E25 kt1003 mbTropical storm
Nov 5, 00:006.4S 100.0E25 kt1002 mbTropical storm
Nov 5, 06:006.6S 99.8E25 kt1002 mbTropical storm
Nov 5, 12:006.9S 99.4E30 kt998 mbTropical storm
Nov 5, 18:007.2S 98.8E35 kt994 mbTropical storm
Nov 6, 00:007.6S 98.0E45 kt990 mbTropical storm
Nov 6, 06:007.9S 97.1E50 kt985 mbTropical storm
Nov 6, 12:008.2S 96.2E60 kt977 mbTropical storm
Nov 6, 18:008.4S 95.1E75 kt967 mbTropical storm
Nov 7, 00:008.7S 93.8E85 kt958 mbTropical storm
Nov 7, 06:009.1S 92.5E95 kt950 mbTropical storm
Nov 7, 12:009.6S 91.4E100 kt946 mbTropical storm
Nov 7, 18:0010.1S 90.2E100 kt942 mbTropical storm
Nov 8, 00:0010.5S 88.9E105 kt940 mbTropical storm
Nov 8, 06:0010.7S 87.5E105 kt940 mbTropical storm
Nov 8, 12:0010.9S 86.3E100 kt945 mbTropical storm
Nov 8, 18:0011.1S 85.3E95 kt950 mbTropical storm
Nov 9, 00:0011.3S 84.4E90 kt955 mbTropical storm
Nov 9, 06:0011.5S 84.0E85 kt960 mbTropical storm
Nov 9, 12:0011.3S 82.9E85 kt960 mbTropical storm
Nov 9, 18:0011.4S 82.1E85 kt960 mbTropical storm
Nov 10, 00:0012.0S 81.4E85 kt960 mbTropical storm
Nov 10, 06:0012.5S 81.0E85 kt960 mbTropical storm
Nov 10, 12:0012.8S 80.7E85 kt960 mbTropical storm
Nov 10, 18:0013.1S 80.5ETropical storm
Nov 11, 00:0013.3S 80.2ETropical storm
Nov 11, 06:0013.5S 79.8ETropical storm
Nov 11, 12:0013.7S 79.0ETropical storm
Nov 11, 18:0014.0S 78.0ETropical storm
Nov 12, 00:0014.1S 77.3ETropical storm
Nov 12, 06:0014.0S 76.5ETropical storm
Nov 12, 12:0013.1S 75.6ETropical storm
Nov 12, 18:0012.0S 74.6ETropical storm
Nov 13, 00:0011.5S 73.7ETropical storm
Nov 13, 06:0011.0S 72.5ETropical storm
Nov 13, 12:0010.2S 70.9ETropical storm
Nov 13, 18:009.4S 69.0ETropical storm
Nov 14, 00:009.0S 67.2ETropical storm
Nov 14, 06:009.0S 65.3ETropical storm

Other South Indian storms of 1981

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. This storm’s winds are ten-minute averages from its regional agency. They read about 12 percent lower than the one-minute winds US agencies use, so a Saffir-Simpson category is not given for it.

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.