The 1985 season

Tropical Storm Gertie (1985)

Tropical Storm Gertie peaked at 55 kt in the South Indian between January 26, 1985 and February 3, 1985, with a lowest pressure of 973 mb, and made landfall.

Track and intensity

The whole track of Tropical Storm Gertie, 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
January 26, 1985 to February 3, 1985
Peak strength
Tropical Storm, 55 kt (63 mph)
Lowest pressure
973 mb (28.73 inHg)
Landfall
Yes
Accumulated cyclone energy
1.8
Identifier
SH171985

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
Jan 26, 00:0016.1S 126.0E20 kt1006 mbTropical storm
Jan 26, 06:0016.4S 125.9E20 kt1003 mbTropical storm
Jan 26, 12:0016.6S 125.7E20 kt1003 mbTropical storm
Jan 26, 18:0016.7S 125.4E20 kt1004 mbTropical storm
Jan 27, 00:0016.8S 125.0E20 kt1004 mbTropical storm
Jan 27, 06:0016.9S 124.6E20 kt1004 mbTropical storm
Jan 27, 12:0017.0S 124.2E20 kt1005 mbTropical storm
Jan 27, 18:0017.1S 123.8E20 kt1006 mbTropical storm
Jan 28, 00:0017.5S 123.2E20 kt1006 mbTropical storm
Jan 28, 06:0017.8S 122.6E25 kt1004 mbTropical storm
Jan 28, 12:0018.0S 121.9E25 kt1003 mbTropical storm
Jan 28, 18:0018.2S 121.1E25 kt1000 mbTropical storm
Jan 29, 00:0018.0S 120.6E25 kt998 mbXX
Jan 29, 06:0018.1S 119.8E30 kt997 mbXX
Jan 29, 12:0018.2S 119.1E35 kt994 mbXX
Jan 29, 18:0018.2S 118.5E40 kt988 mbXX
Jan 30, 00:0018.1S 118.0E45 kt985 mbXX
Jan 30, 06:0018.1S 117.4E50 kt982 mbXX
Jan 30, 12:0018.4S 117.1E55 kt978 mbXX
Jan 30, 18:0019.2S 117.1E50 kt974 mbXX
Jan 31, 00:0020.2S 117.0E45 kt974 mbXX
Jan 31, 06:0021.2S 117.0E40 kt976 mbXX
Jan 31, 12:0022.2S 116.9E35 kt984 mbXX
Jan 31, 18:0023.8S 117.6E30 kt990 mbXX
Feb 1, 00:0025.2S 117.8E30 kt995 mbTropical storm
Feb 1, 06:0026.4S 118.4E30 kt997 mbTropical storm
Feb 1, 12:0026.9S 119.4E25 kt999 mbTropical storm
Feb 1, 18:0027.0S 120.1E20 kt1000 mbTropical storm
Feb 2, 00:0027.0S 121.2E20 kt1002 mbMixed
Feb 2, 06:0027.0S 122.1E20 kt1002 mbMixed
Feb 2, 12:0027.0S 122.8E15 kt1003 mbMixed
Feb 2, 18:0027.0S 123.3E15 kt1004 mbMixed
Feb 3, 00:0026.9S 123.9E15 kt1005 mbMixed

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.