The 1981 season

Tropical Storm Jeff (1981)

Tropical Storm Jeff peaked at 35 kt in the Western Pacific between November 20, 1981 and November 26, 1981, with a lowest pressure of 1000 mb.

Track and intensity

The whole track of Tropical Storm Jeff, 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
November 20, 1981 to November 26, 1981
Peak strength
Tropical Storm, 35 kt (40 mph)
Lowest pressure
1000 mb (29.53 inHg)
Landfall
No; closest approach 648 km (403 mi)
Accumulated cyclone energy
1.0
Identifier
WP271981

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 20, 00:007.9N 157.6EDisturbance
Nov 20, 06:008.6N 156.7E1004 mbMixed
Nov 20, 12:008.7N 155.4E1004 mbMixed
Nov 20, 18:009.1N 154.2E1004 mbMixed
Nov 21, 00:0010.7N 152.9E25 kt1004 mbMixed
Nov 21, 06:0011.6N 152.1E25 kt1000 mbMixed
Nov 21, 12:0012.3N 151.4E20 kt1000 mbMixed
Nov 21, 18:0012.8N 150.8E20 kt1000 mbMixed
Nov 22, 00:0013.5N 150.1E20 kt1002 mbTropical storm
Nov 22, 06:0013.9N 149.7E25 kt1000 mbTropical storm
Nov 22, 12:0014.1N 149.3E30 kt1000 mbTropical storm
Nov 22, 18:0014.0N 148.6E35 kt1000 mbTropical storm
Nov 23, 00:0013.9N 148.1E35 kt1000 mbTropical storm
Nov 23, 06:0013.8N 146.8E30 kt1002 mbTropical storm
Nov 23, 12:0013.6N 145.2E30 kt1002 mbTropical storm
Nov 23, 18:0013.4N 143.5E30 kt1002 mbTropical storm
Nov 24, 00:0013.2N 141.7E35 kt1002 mbTropical storm
Nov 24, 06:0013.3N 139.8E35 kt1002 mbTropical storm
Nov 24, 12:0014.0N 138.1E35 kt1004 mbTropical storm
Nov 24, 18:0014.7N 136.4E35 kt1002 mbTropical storm
Nov 25, 00:0015.1N 134.7E35 kt1004 mbTropical storm
Nov 25, 06:0015.9N 132.8E35 kt1002 mbTropical storm
Nov 25, 12:0016.9N 131.1E30 kt1004 mbTropical storm
Nov 25, 18:0018.3N 129.6E25 kt1002 mbTropical storm
Nov 26, 00:0020.0N 128.4E25 kt1002 mbTropical storm
Nov 26, 06:0021.9N 128.1E20 kt1004 mbTropical storm
Nov 26, 12:0025.2N 131.0ETropical 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.