The 1981 season

Cyclone Neil (1981)

Cyclone Neil reached Category 3 in the South Indian between February 24, 1981 and March 7, 1981, with a lowest pressure of 940 mb, and made landfall.

Track and intensity

The whole track of Cyclone Neil, 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.

Open the live map with storms, cones and warnings

The storm

Basin
South Indian
Dates
February 24, 1981 to March 7, 1981
Peak strength
Category 3, 100 kt (115 mph)
Lowest pressure
940 mb (27.76 inHg)
Landfall
Yes
Accumulated cyclone energy
18.0
Identifier
SH191981

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
Feb 24, 00:0019.3S 120.2E25 kt1003 mbTropical storm
Feb 24, 06:0019.2S 119.2E25 kt1001 mbTropical storm
Feb 24, 12:0019.1S 118.2E30 kt999 mbTropical storm
Feb 24, 18:0018.8S 115.7E25 kt996 mbTropical storm
Feb 25, 00:0018.6S 114.9E25 kt994 mbTropical storm
Feb 25, 06:0018.3S 114.1E30 kt993 mbTropical storm
Feb 25, 12:0018.0S 113.3E30 kt992 mbTropical storm
Feb 25, 18:0017.7S 112.4E35 kt990 mbTropical storm
Feb 26, 00:0017.4S 111.6E35 kt988 mbTropical storm
Feb 26, 06:0017.0S 110.9E40 kt985 mbTropical storm
Feb 26, 12:0016.6S 110.3E40 kt982 mbTropical storm
Feb 26, 18:0016.2S 109.9E45 kt979 mbTropical storm
Feb 27, 00:0016.2S 109.7E45 kt975 mbTropical storm
Feb 27, 06:0016.3S 109.5E50 kt974 mbTropical storm
Feb 27, 12:0015.8S 109.0E55 kt973 mbTropical storm
Feb 27, 18:0015.5S 108.5E60 kt972 mbTropical storm
Feb 28, 00:0015.8S 107.9E65 kt970 mbTropical storm
Feb 28, 06:0016.1S 107.3E75 kt963 mbTropical storm
Feb 28, 12:0016.4S 106.7E80 kt956 mbTropical storm
Feb 28, 18:0016.7S 106.1E90 kt948 mbTropical storm
Mar 1, 00:0016.9S 105.6E95 kt940 mbTropical storm
Mar 1, 06:0017.0S 105.1E100 kt946 mbTropical storm
Mar 1, 12:0017.1S 104.8E100 kt952 mbTropical storm
Mar 1, 18:0017.2S 104.6E100 kt958 mbTropical storm
Mar 2, 00:0017.3S 104.5E100 kt965 mbTropical storm
Mar 2, 06:0017.5S 104.4E95 kt967 mbTropical storm
Mar 2, 12:0017.7S 104.4E95 kt969 mbTropical storm
Mar 2, 18:0017.9S 104.5E90 kt972 mbTropical storm
Mar 3, 00:0018.1S 104.7E90 kt975 mbTropical storm
Mar 3, 06:0018.2S 105.0E85 kt975 mbTropical storm
Mar 3, 12:0018.4S 105.4E85 kt975 mbTropical storm
Mar 3, 18:0018.6S 105.8E80 kt975 mbTropical storm
Mar 4, 00:0018.9S 106.2E80 kt975 mbTropical storm
Mar 4, 06:0019.4S 106.7E75 kt975 mbTropical storm
Mar 4, 12:0019.9S 107.6E70 kt975 mbTropical storm
Mar 4, 18:0020.5S 108.9E65 kt975 mbTropical storm
Mar 5, 00:0021.2S 110.1E60 kt975 mbTropical storm
Mar 5, 06:0022.0S 111.4E55 kt978 mbTropical storm
Mar 5, 12:0022.3S 113.0E55 kt981 mbTropical storm
Mar 5, 18:0023.4S 115.0E40 kt984 mbNot reported
Mar 6, 00:0024.3S 117.7E30 kt988 mbNot reported
Mar 6, 06:0025.0S 119.8E30 kt994 mbNot reported
Mar 6, 12:0025.7S 121.3E25 kt998 mbNot reported
Mar 6, 18:0026.0S 124.4E20 kt1002 mbNot reported
Mar 7, 00:0026.3S 126.4E20 kt1005 mbNot 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.