Typhoon Lee (1981)

Typhoon Lee reached Category 2 in the Western Pacific between December 21, 1981 and December 29, 1981, with a lowest pressure of 950 mb, and made landfall.

Track and intensity

The whole track of Typhoon Lee, 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: December 21, 1981 to December 29, 1981
Peak strength: Category 2, 95 kt (109 mph)
Lowest pressure: 950 mb (28.05 inHg)
Landfall: Yes
Accumulated cyclone energy: 7.8
Fastest the center moved: 19 kt (22 mph)
Identifier: WP291981

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)	Position	Wind	Pressure	Status
Dec 21, 00:00	6.5N 148.5E			Disturbance
Dec 21, 06:00	6.7N 147.5E			Disturbance
Dec 21, 12:00	6.9N 146.5E			Disturbance
Dec 21, 18:00	7.2N 145.4E			Disturbance
Dec 22, 00:00	7.5N 144.1E			Disturbance
Dec 22, 06:00	7.9N 142.6E			Disturbance
Dec 22, 12:00	8.3N 141.0E			Disturbance
Dec 22, 18:00	8.8N 139.3E	30 kt	1004 mb	Mixed
Dec 23, 00:00	9.3N 137.4E	30 kt	1002 mb	Tropical storm
Dec 23, 06:00	10.0N 136.9E	35 kt	996 mb	Tropical storm
Dec 23, 12:00	10.8N 134.7E	45 kt	994 mb	Tropical storm
Dec 23, 18:00	11.4N 133.3E	55 kt	992 mb	Tropical storm
Dec 24, 00:00	11.8N 132.0E	65 kt	980 mb	Tropical storm
Dec 24, 06:00	12.1N 130.9E	70 kt	975 mb	Tropical storm
Dec 24, 12:00	12.4N 129.9E	75 kt	970 mb	Tropical storm
Dec 24, 18:00	12.6N 128.8E	85 kt	960 mb	Tropical storm
Dec 25, 00:00	12.7N 127.6E	90 kt	960 mb	Tropical storm
Dec 25, 06:00	12.6N 126.2E	95 kt	950 mb	Tropical storm
Dec 25, 12:00	12.6N 124.8E	85 kt	950 mb	Tropical storm
Dec 25, 18:00	12.8N 123.3E	70 kt	955 mb	Tropical storm
Dec 26, 00:00	13.1N 121.9E	60 kt	960 mb	Tropical storm
Dec 26, 06:00	13.6N 120.7E	50 kt	970 mb	Tropical storm
Dec 26, 12:00	13.8N 119.3E	40 kt	970 mb	Tropical storm
Dec 26, 18:00	13.9N 118.0E	45 kt	975 mb	Tropical storm
Dec 27, 00:00	14.2N 116.9E	50 kt	990 mb	Tropical storm
Dec 27, 06:00	14.7N 116.0E	55 kt	990 mb	Tropical storm
Dec 27, 12:00	15.1N 115.2E	50 kt	994 mb	Tropical storm
Dec 27, 18:00	15.7N 114.3E	45 kt	998 mb	Tropical storm
Dec 28, 00:00	16.4N 113.7E	35 kt	1000 mb	Tropical storm
Dec 28, 06:00	17.3N 113.2E	30 kt	1004 mb	Tropical storm
Dec 28, 12:00	18.1N 113.2E	25 kt	1008 mb	Tropical storm
Dec 28, 18:00	18.6N 113.3E		1008 mb	Tropical storm
Dec 29, 00:00	19.2N 113.9E		1008 mb	Mixed
Dec 29, 06:00	19.8N 114.6E		1008 mb	Mixed
Dec 29, 12:00	20.5N 115.5E		1010 mb	Tropical storm
Dec 29, 18:00	20.9N 116.0E		1012 mb	Tropical 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.

Wikipedia article: Typhoon Lee