The 1985 season

Tropical Storm Gavin (1985)

Tropical Storm Gavin peaked at 55 kt in the South Pacific between March 2, 1985 and March 9, 1985, with a lowest pressure of 985 mb.

Track and intensity

The whole track of Tropical Storm Gavin, 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 Pacific
Dates
March 2, 1985 to March 9, 1985
Peak strength
Tropical Storm, 55 kt (63 mph)
Lowest pressure
985 mb (29.09 inHg)
Landfall
No; closest approach 260 km (162 mi)
Accumulated cyclone energy
4.2
Identifier
SH271985

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
Mar 2, 12:0014.9S 169.9E30 kt997 mbNot reported
Mar 2, 18:0015.1S 170.0ENot reported
Mar 3, 00:0015.2S 170.2E30 kt997 mbTropical storm
Mar 3, 06:0015.2S 170.4ETropical storm
Mar 3, 12:0015.6S 170.5E35 kt995 mbTropical storm
Mar 3, 18:0015.9S 170.5ETropical storm
Mar 4, 00:0016.3S 170.7E40 kt990 mbTropical storm
Mar 4, 06:0016.6S 170.7E30 ktXX
Mar 4, 12:0016.9S 171.3E35 kt987 mbXX
Mar 4, 18:0017.5S 172.0E35 ktXX
Mar 5, 00:0018.4S 172.6E35 kt985 mbXX
Mar 5, 06:0019.4S 173.3E35 ktXX
Mar 5, 12:0020.3S 174.1E35 kt985 mbXX
Mar 5, 18:0021.3S 174.9E40 ktXX
Mar 6, 00:0022.2S 175.8E40 kt985 mbXX
Mar 6, 06:0023.0S 176.7E45 ktXX
Mar 6, 12:0023.6S 177.8E45 kt985 mbXX
Mar 6, 18:0024.1S 179.0E50 ktXX
Mar 7, 00:0024.5S 179.9E55 kt987 mbXX
Mar 7, 06:0024.9S 179.2W55 ktXX
Mar 7, 12:0025.4S 178.4W55 kt990 mbXX
Mar 7, 18:0026.0S 177.7W50 ktXX
Mar 8, 00:0027.3S 176.4W50 kt990 mbXX
Mar 8, 06:0029.3S 174.4W45 ktXX
Mar 8, 12:0031.6S 172.0W45 kt990 mbXX
Mar 8, 18:0034.2S 169.0W40 ktXX
Mar 9, 00:0039.0S 196.0E40 kt990 mbXX
Mar 9, 06:0041.8S 198.9ENot reported
Mar 9, 12:0044.0S 201.0E45 kt987 mbNot reported

Other South Pacific 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.