Unnamed tropical depression (1981)
Unnamed tropical depression peaked at 30 kt in the North Atlantic between September 12, 1981 and September 14, 1981, and made landfall.
Radar
Reflectivity now over Unnamed tropical depression. Open it to see storms, cones and warnings on the map.























Radar mosaic and map layers from NOAA MRMS. Boundaries from the Iowa Environmental Mesonet.
The storm
- Basin
- North Atlantic
- Dates
- September 12, 1981 to September 14, 1981
- Peak strength
- Tropical Depression, 30 kt (35 mph)
- Landfall
- Yes
- Accumulated cyclone energy
- 0.0
- Identifier
- AL171981
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 |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Sep 12, 00:00 | 11.8N 73.8W | 20 kt | Tropical depression | |
| Sep 12, 06:00 | 11.9N 74.9W | 25 kt | Tropical depression | |
| Sep 12, 12:00 | 12.0N 76.0W | 25 kt | Tropical depression | |
| Sep 12, 18:00 | 12.2N 77.1W | 30 kt | Tropical depression | |
| Sep 13, 00:00 | 12.3N 78.2W | 30 kt | Tropical depression | |
| Sep 13, 06:00 | 12.4N 79.4W | 30 kt | Tropical depression | |
| Sep 13, 12:00 | 12.5N 80.6W | 30 kt | Tropical depression | |
| Sep 13, 18:00 | 12.8N 81.4W | 30 kt | Tropical depression | |
| Sep 14, 00:00 | 12.9N 82.3W | 30 kt | Tropical depression | |
| Sep 14, 06:00 | 12.9N 83.2W | 25 kt | Tropical depression | |
| Sep 14, 12:00 | 13.0N 84.0W | Tropical depression |
Other North Atlantic storms of 1981
- Unnamed tropical depressionNorth Atlantic · 1981
- Unnamed tropical depressionNorth Atlantic · 1981
- Tropical Storm ArleneNorth Atlantic · 1981
- Unnamed tropical depressionNorth Atlantic · 1981
- Unnamed tropical depressionNorth Atlantic · 1981
- Tropical Storm BretNorth Atlantic · 1981
- Unnamed tropical depressionNorth Atlantic · 1981
- Unnamed tropical depressionNorth Atlantic · 1981
- Tropical Storm CindyNorth Atlantic · 1981
- Hurricane DennisNorth Atlantic · 1981
- Unnamed tropical depressionNorth Atlantic · 1981
- Unnamed tropical depressionNorth Atlantic · 1981
- Hurricane EmilyNorth Atlantic · 1981
- Hurricane FloydNorth Atlantic · 1981
- Hurricane GertNorth Atlantic · 1981
- Hurricane HarveyNorth Atlantic · 1981
- Hurricane IreneNorth Atlantic · 1981
- Unnamed tropical depressionNorth Atlantic · 1981
- Tropical Storm JoseNorth Atlantic · 1981
- Hurricane KatrinaNorth Atlantic · 1981
- Unnamed tropical stormNorth Atlantic · 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.
The National Hurricane Center has published no tropical cyclone report for this storm.