The 1985 season

Cyclone Kirsty (1985)

Cyclone Kirsty reached Category 4 in the South Indian between March 1, 1985 and March 19, 1985, with a lowest pressure of 920 mb.

Track and intensity

The whole track of Cyclone Kirsty, 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
March 1, 1985 to March 19, 1985
Peak strength
Category 4, 115 kt (132 mph)
Lowest pressure
920 mb (27.17 inHg)
Landfall
No; closest approach 174 km (108 mi)
Accumulated cyclone energy
22.3
Identifier
SH281985

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 1, 00:0010.5S 112.0E15 kt1006 mbTropical storm
Mar 1, 06:0010.5S 110.6E15 kt1004 mbTropical storm
Mar 1, 12:0010.5S 110.3E15 kt1004 mbTropical storm
Mar 1, 18:0010.5S 109.6E15 kt1004 mbTropical storm
Mar 2, 00:0010.4S 108.7E20 kt1005 mbTropical storm
Mar 2, 06:0010.3S 107.7E20 kt1003 mbTropical storm
Mar 2, 12:0010.2S 106.9E20 kt1004 mbTropical storm
Mar 2, 18:0010.1S 106.0E20 kt1004 mbTropical storm
Mar 3, 00:0010.1S 105.2E20 kt1005 mbTropical storm
Mar 3, 06:0010.1S 104.4E20 kt1002 mbTropical storm
Mar 3, 12:0010.1S 103.6E20 kt1002 mbTropical storm
Mar 3, 18:0010.2S 102.7E20 kt1003 mbTropical storm
Mar 4, 00:0010.2S 101.9E20 kt1003 mbTropical storm
Mar 4, 06:0010.2S 101.3E20 kt1002 mbTropical storm
Mar 4, 12:0010.2S 100.7E20 kt1002 mbTropical storm
Mar 4, 18:0010.3S 100.1E20 kt1002 mbTropical storm
Mar 5, 00:0010.3S 99.5E20 kt1002 mbTropical storm
Mar 5, 06:0010.4S 98.7E25 kt1001 mbTropical storm
Mar 5, 12:0010.5S 97.9E25 kt999 mbTropical storm
Mar 5, 18:0010.6S 97.0E30 kt997 mbTropical storm
Mar 6, 00:0010.6S 95.9E30 kt997 mbTropical storm
Mar 6, 06:0010.8S 94.8E35 kt993 mbTropical storm
Mar 6, 12:0011.4S 93.5E30 kt990 mbXX
Mar 6, 18:0011.7S 92.6E40 kt988 mbXX
Mar 7, 00:0012.0S 91.8E45 kt986 mbXX
Mar 7, 06:0012.4S 91.0E50 kt982 mbXX
Mar 7, 12:0012.8S 90.2E55 kt978 mbXX
Mar 7, 18:0013.2S 89.4E65 kt975 mbXX
Mar 8, 00:0013.5S 88.6E75 kt970 mbXX
Mar 8, 06:0013.6S 87.8E85 kt966 mbXX
Mar 8, 12:0013.6S 86.9E95 kt954 mbXX
Mar 8, 18:0013.8S 86.1E100 kt950 mbXX
Mar 9, 00:0014.2S 85.6E105 kt941 mbXX
Mar 9, 06:0014.7S 85.2E105 kt920 mbXX
Mar 9, 12:0015.2S 84.9E110 kt920 mbXX
Mar 9, 18:0015.9S 84.6E110 kt920 mbXX
Mar 10, 00:0016.5S 84.3E115 kt920 mbXX
Mar 10, 06:0017.1S 84.2E115 kt923 mbXX
Mar 10, 12:0017.7S 84.2E115 kt941 mbXX
Mar 10, 18:0018.3S 84.3E110 kt947 mbXX
Mar 11, 00:0018.9S 84.5E105 kt954 mbXX
Mar 11, 06:0019.3S 84.7E100 kt963 mbXX
Mar 11, 12:0019.7S 85.0E90 kt971 mbXX
Mar 11, 18:0020.2S 85.3E80 kt976 mbXX
Mar 12, 00:0020.6S 85.6E75 kt976 mbXX
Mar 12, 06:0021.0S 85.9E70 kt976 mbXX
Mar 12, 12:0021.4S 86.2E65 kt976 mbXX
Mar 12, 18:0021.8S 86.5E60 kt976 mbXX
Mar 13, 00:0022.3S 86.8E55 kt976 mbXX
Mar 13, 06:0022.8S 87.2E50 kt978 mbXX
Mar 13, 12:0023.4S 87.8E50 kt982 mbXX
Mar 13, 18:0023.8S 88.4E50 kt984 mbXX
Mar 14, 00:0024.3S 89.1E45 kt986 mbXX
Mar 14, 06:0025.0S 90.2E45 kt988 mbXX
Mar 14, 12:0025.9S 91.7E40 kt990 mbXX
Mar 14, 18:0026.3S 93.2E40 kt991 mbXX
Mar 15, 00:0026.9S 94.4E40 kt992 mbMixed
Mar 15, 06:0027.4S 95.6E40 kt993 mbMixed
Mar 15, 12:0027.9S 96.6E35 kt994 mbMixed
Mar 15, 18:0028.4S 97.3E35 kt994 mbMixed
Mar 16, 00:0028.9S 98.1E35 kt995 mbMixed
Mar 16, 06:0029.5S 98.9E30 kt997 mbMixed
Mar 16, 12:0030.2S 99.5E30 kt998 mbMixed
Mar 16, 18:0031.0S 100.1E30 kt999 mbMixed
Mar 17, 00:0032.1S 100.8E25 kt1000 mbMixed
Mar 17, 06:0033.2S 101.9E25 kt1002 mbMixed
Mar 17, 12:0033.7S 103.6E20 kt1003 mbMixed
Mar 17, 18:0034.1S 105.4E20 kt1004 mbMixed
Mar 18, 00:0034.5S 107.5E15 kt1005 mbMixed
Mar 18, 06:0034.7S 110.2E15 kt1006 mbMixed
Mar 18, 12:0034.6S 112.4E15 kt1008 mbMixed
Mar 18, 18:0034.3S 113.1E15 kt1010 mbMixed
Mar 19, 00:0033.6S 113.0E15 kt1012 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.