The 1981 season

Typhoon Freda (1981)

Typhoon Freda reached Category 3 in the Western Pacific between March 11, 1981 and March 18, 1981, with a lowest pressure of 945 mb.

Radar

Reflectivity now over Typhoon Freda. 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
March 11, 1981 to March 18, 1981
Peak strength
Category 3, 100 kt (115 mph)
Lowest pressure
945 mb (27.91 inHg)
Landfall
No; closest approach 1816 km (1128 mi)
Accumulated cyclone energy
11.4
Identifier
WP011981

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
Mar 11, 00:002.8N 172.8EDisturbance
Mar 11, 06:003.8N 171.7EDisturbance
Mar 11, 12:004.7N 170.5E25 ktTropical storm
Mar 11, 18:005.6N 169.3E30 ktTropical storm
Mar 12, 00:006.2N 168.2E30 kt1004 mbTropical storm
Mar 12, 06:006.5N 167.5E35 kt1002 mbTropical storm
Mar 12, 12:006.9N 166.8E35 kt998 mbTropical storm
Mar 12, 18:007.4N 165.9E40 kt994 mbTropical storm
Mar 13, 00:008.1N 164.9E40 kt992 mbTropical storm
Mar 13, 06:009.0N 164.0E45 kt990 mbTropical storm
Mar 13, 12:009.9N 163.1E45 kt990 mbTropical storm
Mar 13, 18:0010.7N 162.3E55 kt985 mbTropical storm
Mar 14, 00:0011.7N 161.9E60 kt980 mbTropical storm
Mar 14, 06:0012.7N 161.4E65 kt980 mbTropical storm
Mar 14, 12:0013.7N 161.2E65 kt975 mbTropical storm
Mar 14, 18:0014.8N 161.4E75 kt965 mbTropical storm
Mar 15, 00:0015.6N 161.9E85 kt960 mbTropical storm
Mar 15, 06:0016.9N 162.8E95 kt945 mbTropical storm
Mar 15, 12:0018.3N 164.0E95 kt945 mbTropical storm
Mar 15, 18:0019.3N 165.0E100 kt945 mbTropical storm
Mar 16, 00:0020.2N 165.9E100 kt945 mbTropical storm
Mar 16, 06:0021.3N 167.0E95 kt950 mbTropical storm
Mar 16, 12:0022.4N 168.1E85 kt955 mbTropical storm
Mar 16, 18:0023.6N 169.2E75 kt960 mbTropical storm
Mar 17, 00:0024.8N 170.3E65 kt960 mbTropical storm
Mar 17, 06:0025.7N 171.6E60 kt965 mbTropical storm
Mar 17, 12:0026.6N 173.0E50 kt970 mbTropical storm
Mar 17, 18:0027.4N 174.3E45 kt970 mbTropical storm
Mar 18, 00:0029.0N 176.0E45 kt975 mbTropical storm
Mar 18, 06:0031.3N 179.5E45 kt980 mbTropical storm

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.