The 1981 season

Tropical Storm Vanessa (1981)

Tropical Storm Vanessa peaked at 55 kt in the Western Pacific between August 14, 1981 and August 23, 1981, with a lowest pressure of 980 mb.

Radar

Reflectivity now over Tropical Storm Vanessa. 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
Western Pacific
Dates
August 14, 1981 to August 23, 1981
Peak strength
Tropical Storm, 55 kt (63 mph)
Lowest pressure
980 mb (28.94 inHg)
Landfall
No; closest approach 208 km (129 mi)
Accumulated cyclone energy
2.7
Identifier
WP161981

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
Aug 14, 06:0017.0N 142.0EDisturbance
Aug 14, 12:0018.0N 142.5EDisturbance
Aug 14, 18:0019.0N 143.5ETropical storm
Aug 15, 00:0020.0N 145.0ETropical storm
Aug 15, 06:0020.0N 146.5ETropical storm
Aug 15, 12:0020.5N 148.5ETropical storm
Aug 15, 18:0020.7N 150.4ETropical storm
Aug 16, 00:0021.8N 152.2E998 mbTropical storm
Aug 16, 06:0023.8N 154.6E25 kt996 mbTropical storm
Aug 16, 12:0025.2N 155.4E30 kt996 mbTropical storm
Aug 16, 18:0026.5N 156.7E40 kt994 mbTropical storm
Aug 17, 00:0027.4N 158.2E50 kt990 mbXX
Aug 17, 06:0028.3N 159.2E55 kt985 mbXX
Aug 17, 12:0029.3N 160.3E50 kt980 mbTropical storm
Aug 17, 18:0030.2N 161.3E45 kt980 mbTropical storm
Aug 18, 00:0031.1N 162.2E45 kt980 mbTropical storm
Aug 18, 06:0031.9N 163.6E45 kt985 mbTropical storm
Aug 18, 12:0032.8N 165.0E45 kt985 mbTropical storm
Aug 18, 18:0033.7N 166.0E45 kt990 mbTropical storm
Aug 19, 00:0034.6N 166.4E45 kt992 mbTropical storm
Aug 19, 06:0035.6N 166.9E40 kt992 mbTropical storm
Aug 19, 12:0037.4N 166.5E40 kt992 mbTropical storm
Aug 19, 18:0038.7N 166.4E40 kt992 mbTropical storm
Aug 20, 00:0040.0N 165.8E996 mbTropical storm
Aug 20, 06:0041.3N 165.5E996 mbMixed
Aug 20, 12:0043.0N 165.8E994 mbExtratropical
Aug 20, 18:0045.5N 166.0E994 mbExtratropical
Aug 21, 00:0047.5N 165.0E994 mbExtratropical
Aug 21, 06:0049.5N 164.8E994 mbExtratropical
Aug 21, 12:0051.8N 165.5E994 mbExtratropical
Aug 21, 18:0053.8N 167.2E988 mbExtratropical
Aug 22, 00:0055.8N 169.0E988 mbExtratropical
Aug 22, 06:0057.0N 170.0E988 mbExtratropical
Aug 22, 12:0058.0N 171.0E988 mbExtratropical
Aug 22, 18:0058.0N 172.0E988 mbExtratropical
Aug 23, 00:0058.0N 174.0E988 mbExtratropical
Aug 23, 06:0058.0N 177.0E988 mbExtratropical
Aug 23, 12:0058.0N 180.0E988 mbExtratropical

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.