The 1981 season

Tropical Storm Lisa (1981)

Tropical Storm Lisa peaked at 40 kt in the South Indian between April 6, 1981 and April 16, 1981.

Radar

Reflectivity now over Tropical Storm Lisa. 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
South Indian
Dates
April 6, 1981 to April 16, 1981
Peak strength
Tropical Storm, 40 kt (46 mph)
Landfall
No; closest approach 88 km (55 mi)
Accumulated cyclone energy
2.7
Identifier
SH281981

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
Apr 6, 00:0014.3S 58.6E20 ktTropical storm
Apr 6, 06:0014.5S 58.9E20 ktTropical storm
Apr 6, 12:0014.7S 59.3E20 ktTropical storm
Apr 6, 18:0014.9S 59.7E20 ktTropical storm
Apr 7, 00:0015.0S 60.2E20 ktTropical storm
Apr 7, 06:0015.0S 60.6E20 ktTropical storm
Apr 7, 12:0015.0S 61.1E25 ktTropical storm
Apr 7, 18:0015.0S 61.5E25 ktTropical storm
Apr 8, 00:0015.0S 62.0E30 ktTropical storm
Apr 8, 06:0015.6S 62.1E30 ktTropical storm
Apr 8, 12:0016.3S 61.5E30 ktTropical storm
Apr 8, 18:0016.6S 60.3E35 ktTropical storm
Apr 9, 00:0016.8S 58.8E35 ktTropical storm
Apr 9, 06:0016.9S 57.0E35 ktTropical storm
Apr 9, 12:0017.1S 55.4E35 ktTropical storm
Apr 9, 18:0017.7S 54.9E35 ktTropical storm
Apr 10, 00:0018.4S 55.0E35 ktTropical storm
Apr 10, 06:0018.8S 55.3E35 ktTropical storm
Apr 10, 12:0019.2S 55.7E35 ktTropical storm
Apr 10, 18:0019.4S 56.4E35 ktTropical storm
Apr 11, 00:0019.4S 57.1E35 ktTropical storm
Apr 11, 06:0019.0S 57.7E35 ktTropical storm
Apr 11, 12:0018.5S 58.2E40 ktTropical storm
Apr 11, 18:0018.4S 58.7E40 ktTropical storm
Apr 12, 00:0018.3S 59.2E40 ktTropical storm
Apr 12, 06:0018.0S 59.7E35 ktTropical storm
Apr 12, 12:0017.7S 60.1E35 ktTropical storm
Apr 12, 18:0017.3S 60.2E35 ktTropical storm
Apr 13, 00:0016.9S 59.9E35 ktTropical storm
Apr 13, 06:0016.7S 59.4E35 ktTropical storm
Apr 13, 12:0016.5S 58.9E35 ktTropical storm
Apr 13, 18:0016.2S 58.5E35 ktTropical storm
Apr 14, 00:0016.0S 58.0E30 ktTropical storm
Apr 14, 06:0015.8S 57.6E25 ktTropical storm
Apr 14, 12:0015.7S 57.1E20 ktTropical storm
Apr 14, 18:0015.8S 57.2ENot reported
Apr 15, 00:0015.8S 57.0ENot reported
Apr 15, 06:0016.6S 56.4ETropical storm
Apr 15, 12:0016.7S 56.1ENot reported
Apr 15, 18:0016.3S 56.2ENot reported
Apr 16, 00:0016.2S 56.4EDisturbance

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.