The 1981 season

Tropical Storm Fabian (1981)

Tropical Storm Fabian peaked at 45 kt in the Western Pacific between October 10, 1981 and October 16, 1981, with a lowest pressure of 994 mb, and made landfall.

Track and intensity

The whole track of Tropical Storm Fabian, 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
Western Pacific
Dates
October 10, 1981 to October 16, 1981
Peak strength
Tropical Storm, 45 kt (52 mph)
Lowest pressure
994 mb (29.35 inHg)
Landfall
Yes
Accumulated cyclone energy
0.6
Identifier
WP231981

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
Oct 10, 00:007.3N 132.4E15 ktDisturbance
Oct 10, 06:008.0N 131.7E15 ktDisturbance
Oct 10, 12:008.6N 130.8E15 ktDisturbance
Oct 10, 18:009.2N 129.9E15 kt1004 mbMixed
Oct 11, 00:009.8N 129.1E15 kt1004 mbMixed
Oct 11, 06:0010.3N 128.0E20 kt1004 mbMixed
Oct 11, 12:0010.7N 126.6E20 kt1004 mbMixed
Oct 11, 18:0010.9N 125.1E20 kt1004 mbMixed
Oct 12, 00:0010.8N 123.6E20 kt1006 mbMixed
Oct 12, 06:0010.6N 122.1E20 kt1004 mbMixed
Oct 12, 12:0010.8N 120.6E25 kt1004 mbTropical storm
Oct 12, 18:0011.0N 119.0E25 kt1004 mbTropical storm
Oct 13, 00:0011.3N 117.4E30 kt1004 mbTropical storm
Oct 13, 06:0011.6N 115.8E30 kt1000 mbTropical storm
Oct 13, 12:0011.7N 114.1E35 kt1000 mbTropical storm
Oct 13, 18:0011.6N 112.3E40 kt994 mbTropical storm
Oct 14, 00:0011.5N 110.9E45 kt994 mbTropical storm
Oct 14, 06:0011.6N 109.7E35 kt994 mbTropical storm
Oct 14, 12:0011.9N 108.4E25 kt996 mbTropical storm
Oct 14, 18:0012.7N 107.0E1002 mbTropical storm
Oct 15, 00:0013.2N 105.5E1004 mbTropical storm
Oct 15, 06:0013.5N 103.9E1004 mbMixed
Oct 15, 12:0014.4N 102.3E1004 mbMixed
Oct 15, 18:0015.1N 101.0E1006 mbMixed
Oct 16, 00:0016.0N 100.0E1006 mbExtratropical
Oct 16, 06:0017.0N 99.0EExtratropical

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.