The 1981 season

Tropical Storm Klara (1981)

Tropical Storm Klara peaked at 40 kt in the South Indian between March 28, 1981 and April 8, 1981.

Track and intensity

The whole track of Tropical Storm Klara, 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
South Indian
Dates
March 28, 1981 to April 8, 1981
Peak strength
Tropical Storm, 40 kt (46 mph)
Landfall
No; closest approach 31 km (19 mi)
Accumulated cyclone energy
1.6
Identifier
SH261981

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 28, 00:006.6S 56.9E20 ktTropical storm
Mar 28, 06:007.1S 56.8E20 ktTropical storm
Mar 28, 12:007.6S 56.8E20 ktTropical storm
Mar 28, 18:008.2S 56.8E20 ktTropical storm
Mar 29, 00:008.8S 56.8E20 ktTropical storm
Mar 29, 06:009.5S 56.5E20 ktTropical storm
Mar 29, 12:0010.1S 56.2E25 ktTropical storm
Mar 29, 18:0010.7S 55.8E25 ktTropical storm
Mar 30, 00:0011.2S 55.5E25 ktTropical storm
Mar 30, 06:0011.8S 55.3E30 ktTropical storm
Mar 30, 12:0012.4S 55.2E30 ktTropical storm
Mar 30, 18:0012.9S 55.1E30 ktTropical storm
Mar 31, 00:0013.4S 55.0E30 ktTropical storm
Mar 31, 06:0013.8S 54.9E30 ktTropical storm
Mar 31, 12:0014.2S 54.8E30 ktTropical storm
Mar 31, 18:0014.6S 54.6E30 ktTropical storm
Apr 1, 00:0015.0S 54.3E30 ktTropical storm
Apr 1, 06:0015.3S 54.0E30 ktTropical storm
Apr 1, 12:0015.6S 53.7E35 ktTropical storm
Apr 1, 18:0015.9S 53.2E35 ktTropical storm
Apr 2, 00:0016.2S 52.5E35 ktTropical storm
Apr 2, 06:0016.6S 51.7E40 ktTropical storm
Apr 2, 12:0017.1S 50.9E40 ktTropical storm
Apr 2, 18:0017.8S 50.1E40 ktTropical storm
Apr 3, 00:0018.7S 49.4E35 ktTropical storm
Apr 3, 06:0019.9S 48.9E35 ktTropical storm
Apr 3, 12:0021.2S 48.7E35 ktTropical storm
Apr 3, 18:0022.7S 48.7E35 ktTropical storm
Apr 4, 00:0024.0S 49.2E35 ktTropical storm
Apr 4, 06:0024.7S 50.1E35 ktMixed
Apr 4, 12:0025.0S 51.0E30 ktTropical storm
Apr 4, 18:0025.2S 51.9E30 ktTropical storm
Apr 5, 00:0025.5S 52.8E25 ktTropical storm
Apr 5, 06:0026.1S 53.5E25 ktMixed
Apr 5, 12:0026.8S 53.9E20 ktTropical storm
Apr 5, 18:0027.4S 54.2E20 ktTropical storm
Apr 6, 00:0028.1S 54.2E20 ktTropical storm
Apr 6, 06:0029.0S 54.8EExtratropical
Apr 6, 12:0029.7S 54.8ENot reported
Apr 6, 18:0030.0S 54.2ENot reported
Apr 7, 00:0029.6S 54.0ENot reported
Apr 7, 06:0028.9S 54.0EExtratropical
Apr 7, 12:0028.3S 54.7ENot reported
Apr 7, 18:0027.8S 54.1ENot reported
Apr 8, 00:0028.0S 53.0ENot reported
Apr 8, 06:0028.2S 52.3ENot reported

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.