The 1981 season

Cyclone Florine (1981)

Cyclone Florine reached Category 3 in the South Indian between January 3, 1981 and January 11, 1981.

Track and intensity

The whole track of Cyclone Florine, 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.

Open the live map with storms, cones and warnings

The storm

Basin
South Indian
Dates
January 3, 1981 to January 11, 1981
Peak strength
Category 3, 105 kt (121 mph)
Landfall
No; closest approach 20 km (12 mi)
Accumulated cyclone energy
10.5
Identifier
SH081981

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
Jan 3, 06:0011.2S 59.0ETropical storm
Jan 3, 12:0010.7S 59.3ENot reported
Jan 3, 18:0011.1S 59.7ENot reported
Jan 4, 00:0010.6S 60.2E25 ktTropical storm
Jan 4, 06:0010.6S 60.0E25 ktTropical storm
Jan 4, 12:0011.0S 60.2E25 ktTropical storm
Jan 4, 18:0011.7S 60.9E25 ktTropical storm
Jan 5, 00:0012.5S 61.5E30 ktTropical storm
Jan 5, 06:0013.5S 61.6E35 ktTropical storm
Jan 5, 12:0014.5S 61.2E40 ktTropical storm
Jan 5, 18:0015.3S 60.5E45 ktTropical storm
Jan 6, 00:0016.1S 59.7E55 ktTropical storm
Jan 6, 06:0016.8S 58.9E65 ktTropical storm
Jan 6, 12:0017.5S 58.1E80 ktTropical storm
Jan 6, 18:0018.3S 57.3E90 ktTropical storm
Jan 7, 00:0019.2S 56.5E100 ktTropical storm
Jan 7, 06:0019.9S 56.1E105 ktTropical storm
Jan 7, 12:0020.6S 56.0E100 ktTropical storm
Jan 7, 18:0021.5S 56.0E90 ktTropical storm
Jan 8, 00:0022.4S 56.2E80 ktTropical storm
Jan 8, 06:0023.2S 56.8E80 ktTropical storm
Jan 8, 12:0024.0S 57.4E75 ktTropical storm
Jan 8, 18:0024.8S 57.7E65 ktTropical storm
Jan 9, 00:0025.7S 57.9E60 ktTropical storm
Jan 9, 06:0026.5S 57.9E60 ktTropical storm
Jan 9, 12:0027.3S 57.9E55 ktTropical storm
Jan 9, 18:0028.4S 58.0E50 ktTropical storm
Jan 10, 00:0029.9S 58.4E45 ktTropical storm
Jan 10, 06:0031.4S 59.5E40 ktTropical storm
Jan 10, 12:0033.1S 61.3E30 ktTropical storm
Jan 10, 18:0035.0S 62.7ENot reported
Jan 11, 00:0036.7S 66.5ENot reported
Jan 11, 06:0037.6S 70.4EExtratropical

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.

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.