The 1985 season

Tropical Storm Esitera (1985)

Tropical Storm Esitera peaked at 50 kt in the South Indian between February 3, 1985 and February 11, 1985, with a lowest pressure of 984 mb, and made landfall.

Track and intensity

The whole track of Tropical Storm Esitera, colored by strength, with the other storms of the 1985 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 Indian
Dates
February 3, 1985 to February 11, 1985
Peak strength
Tropical Storm, 50 kt (58 mph)
Lowest pressure
984 mb (29.06 inHg)
Landfall
Yes
Accumulated cyclone energy
2.8
Identifier
SH191985

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 3, 06:0012.0S 82.1ETropical storm
Feb 3, 12:0012.0S 79.9E36 ktTropical storm
Feb 3, 18:0012.0S 77.7E36 ktTropical storm
Feb 4, 00:0012.0S 75.7E36 ktTropical storm
Feb 4, 06:0012.0S 74.0E36 ktTropical storm
Feb 4, 12:0012.0S 72.8E36 ktTropical storm
Feb 4, 18:0012.2S 71.5E36 ktTropical storm
Feb 5, 00:0012.5S 70.6E36 ktTropical storm
Feb 5, 06:0012.2S 70.1E30 kt1000 mbXX
Feb 5, 12:0012.8S 69.6E35 kt1000 mbXX
Feb 5, 18:0013.3S 68.9E35 kt1000 mbXX
Feb 6, 00:0013.8S 68.2E35 kt997 mbXX
Feb 6, 06:0014.3S 67.4E30 kt997 mbXX
Feb 6, 12:0014.8S 66.7E30 kt997 mbXX
Feb 6, 18:0015.3S 65.9E30 kt991 mbXX
Feb 7, 00:0015.1S 65.0E25 kt984 mbXX
Feb 7, 06:0014.8S 63.9E25 kt984 mbXX
Feb 7, 12:0015.6S 62.1E25 kt984 mbXX
Feb 7, 18:0016.4S 60.2E30 kt991 mbXX
Feb 8, 00:0016.5S 58.8E30 kt991 mbXX
Feb 8, 06:0016.5S 57.5E35 kt991 mbXX
Feb 8, 12:0016.4S 56.5E35 kt991 mbXX
Feb 8, 18:0016.4S 55.4E40 kt991 mbXX
Feb 9, 00:0016.4S 54.3E45 kt991 mbXX
Feb 9, 06:0016.6S 53.1E50 kt991 mbXX
Feb 9, 12:0017.2S 51.8E50 kt991 mbXX
Feb 9, 18:0017.8S 50.5E50 kt997 mbXX
Feb 10, 00:0018.3S 49.3E40 kt1000 mbXX
Feb 10, 06:0018.7S 48.1E30 kt1003 mbXX
Feb 10, 12:0018.9S 46.9E25 ktXX
Feb 10, 18:0019.0S 45.8E20 ktXX
Feb 11, 00:0019.0S 44.8E15 ktXX
Feb 11, 06:0019.0S 44.1E15 ktXX

Other South Indian storms of 1985

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.