The 1981 season

Typhoon Doyle (1981)

Typhoon Doyle reached Category 1 in the Western Pacific between September 17, 1981 and September 24, 1981, with a lowest pressure of 965 mb.

Radar

Reflectivity now over Typhoon Doyle. 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
September 17, 1981 to September 24, 1981
Peak strength
Category 1, 80 kt (92 mph)
Lowest pressure
965 mb (28.50 inHg)
Landfall
No; closest approach 1748 km (1086 mi)
Accumulated cyclone energy
6.1
Identifier
WP211981

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 17, 18:0024.5N 174.0ETropical storm
Sep 18, 00:0024.6N 173.0ETropical storm
Sep 18, 06:0024.8N 172.0ETropical storm
Sep 18, 12:0025.0N 171.0ETropical storm
Sep 18, 18:0025.1N 170.0ETropical storm
Sep 19, 00:0024.9N 168.2E25 kt1012 mbTropical storm
Sep 19, 06:0025.4N 167.5E30 kt1012 mbTropical storm
Sep 19, 12:0025.8N 166.9E30 kt1008 mbTropical storm
Sep 19, 18:0026.2N 166.2E35 kt1004 mbTropical storm
Sep 20, 00:0026.5N 165.2E40 kt1000 mbTropical storm
Sep 20, 06:0026.6N 164.2E45 kt996 mbTropical storm
Sep 20, 12:0026.9N 163.2E50 kt990 mbTropical storm
Sep 20, 18:0027.1N 162.3E55 kt985 mbTropical storm
Sep 21, 00:0027.4N 161.5E60 kt980 mbTropical storm
Sep 21, 06:0027.9N 161.2E65 kt970 mbTropical storm
Sep 21, 12:0028.5N 161.3E70 kt965 mbTropical storm
Sep 21, 18:0029.0N 161.8E75 kt965 mbTropical storm
Sep 22, 00:0029.5N 162.5E80 kt965 mbTropical storm
Sep 22, 06:0029.8N 163.4E80 kt965 mbTropical storm
Sep 22, 12:0030.8N 164.6E75 kt965 mbTropical storm
Sep 22, 18:0032.2N 165.9E65 kt970 mbTropical storm
Sep 23, 00:0033.8N 167.5E55 kt980 mbTropical storm
Sep 23, 06:0036.0N 169.5E50 kt985 mbTropical storm
Sep 23, 12:0038.9N 172.5E45 kt990 mbTropical storm
Sep 23, 18:0041.4N 176.2E40 kt996 mbMixed
Sep 24, 00:0039.0N 175.0E1000 mbExtratropical
Sep 24, 06:0039.5N 177.0E1004 mbExtratropical
Sep 24, 12:0039.5N 179.0E1008 mbExtratropical

Other Western Pacific 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.

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.