The 1982 season

Cyclone Isaac (1982)

Cyclone Isaac peaked at 95 kt in the South Pacific between February 27, 1982 and March 5, 1982, with a lowest pressure of 930 mb.

Track and intensity

The whole track of Cyclone Isaac, colored by strength, with the other storms of the 1982 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
South Pacific
Dates
February 27, 1982 to March 5, 1982
Peak strength
Cyclone, 95 kt (109 mph), ten-minute wind
Lowest pressure
930 mb (27.46 inHg)
Landfall
No; closest approach 219 km (136 mi)
Accumulated cyclone energy
4.8
Fastest the center moved
37 kt (43 mph)
Identifier
SH221982

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 27, 00:009.8S 175.0W30 kt997 mbNot reported
Feb 27, 06:0010.3S 174.0WNot reported
Feb 27, 12:0010.9S 173.0W30 kt997 mbNot reported
Feb 27, 18:0011.5S 171.9WNot reported
Feb 28, 00:0013.0S 170.0W30 kt997 mbTropical storm
Feb 28, 06:0013.5S 169.6WTropical storm
Feb 28, 12:0014.0S 169.4W35 kt995 mbTropical storm
Feb 28, 18:0014.4S 169.4WTropical storm
Mar 1, 00:0014.7S 169.6W45 kt987 mbTropical storm
Mar 1, 06:0015.1S 169.8WTropical storm
Mar 1, 12:0015.6S 170.2W55 kt980 mbTropical storm
Mar 1, 18:0016.3S 171.0WTropical storm
Mar 2, 00:0017.1S 171.8W65 kt970 mbTropical storm
Mar 2, 06:0017.9S 172.6WTropical storm
Mar 2, 12:0018.8S 173.5W80 kt955 mbTropical storm
Mar 2, 18:0019.7S 174.4WTropical storm
Mar 3, 00:0020.8S 175.3W95 kt930 mbTropical storm
Mar 3, 06:0022.0S 176.2WTropical storm
Mar 3, 12:0023.3S 177.0W85 kt945 mbTropical storm
Mar 3, 18:0024.0S 176.1WTropical storm
Mar 4, 00:0025.5S 175.2W75 kt960 mbTropical storm
Mar 4, 06:0026.8S 173.5WTropical storm
Mar 4, 12:0028.2S 171.6W65 kt970 mbTropical storm
Mar 4, 18:0029.8S 169.1WTropical storm
Mar 5, 00:0031.7S 166.3W55 kt980 mbTropical storm
Mar 5, 06:0034.1S 163.2WTropical storm
Mar 5, 12:0036.6S 160.0W40 kt990 mbTropical storm

Other South Pacific storms of 1982

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. This storm’s winds are ten-minute averages from its regional agency. They read about 12 percent lower than the one-minute winds US agencies use, so a Saffir-Simpson category is not given for it.

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.