Cyclone Amphan (2020)
Cyclone Amphan reached Category 5 in the North Indian between May 15, 2020 and May 21, 2020, with a lowest pressure of 901 mb, and made landfall. It killed 106 people, as Wikidata records it.
Track and intensity
The whole track of Cyclone Amphan, colored by strength, with the other storms of the 2020 season in the same basin behind it, and its wind and pressure hour by hour. Every fix is in the track table below.
The storm
- Basin
- North Indian
- Dates
- May 15, 2020 to May 21, 2020
- Peak strength
- Category 5, 145 kt (167 mph)
- Lowest pressure
- 901 mb (26.61 inHg)
- Landfall
- Yes
- Accumulated cyclone energy
- 20.0
- Tropical-storm-force wind reached
- 185 nmi (343 km, 213 mi) from the center at its widest
- Hurricane-force wind reached
- 50 nmi (93 km, 58 mi) from the center at its widest
- Eyewall radius at its peak
- 10 nmi (19 km, 12 mi)
- Overall size
- 230 nmi (426 km, 265 mi) to the outermost closed isobar
- Fastest the center moved
- 16 kt (18 mph)
- Identifier
- IO012020
Deaths and damage
The sources count different things and are not added together.
Wikidata
106 deathsno damage figure
A community-maintained total, usually direct and indirect deaths together and damage worldwide. Joined to this storm by its IBTrACS serial, not by name.
Track
| Time (UTC) | Position | Wind | Pressure | Status |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| May 15, 06:00 | 9.5N 87.5E | 20 kt | 1007 mb | Disturbance |
| May 15, 12:00 | 9.5N 87.0E | 30 kt | 1002 mb | Tropical depression |
| May 15, 18:00 | 9.5N 86.6E | 30 kt | 1001 mb | Tropical depression |
| May 16, 00:00 | 9.7N 86.3E | 35 kt | 999 mb | Tropical storm |
| May 16, 06:00 | 9.9N 85.9E | 40 kt | 997 mb | Tropical storm |
| May 16, 12:00 | 10.3N 86.0E | 50 kt | 992 mb | Tropical storm |
| May 16, 18:00 | 10.7N 86.1E | 55 kt | 987 mb | Tropical storm |
| May 17, 00:00 | 11.0N 86.2E | 60 kt | 982 mb | Tropical storm |
| May 17, 06:00 | 11.4N 86.3E | 70 kt | 978 mb | Typhoon |
| May 17, 12:00 | 11.8N 86.4E | 80 kt | 970 mb | Typhoon |
| May 17, 18:00 | 12.5N 86.6E | 120 kt | 932 mb | Typhoon |
| May 18, 00:00 | 13.1N 86.4E | 130 kt | 919 mb | Super typhoon |
| May 18, 06:00 | 13.4N 86.2E | 140 kt | 911 mb | Super typhoon |
| May 18, 12:00 | 14.1N 86.4E | 145 kt | 901 mb | Super typhoon |
| May 18, 18:00 | 14.8N 86.6E | 140 kt | 910 mb | Super typhoon |
| May 19, 00:00 | 15.5N 86.8E | 125 kt | 925 mb | Typhoon |
| May 19, 06:00 | 16.5N 87.0E | 110 kt | 941 mb | Typhoon |
| May 19, 12:00 | 17.3N 87.1E | 105 kt | 946 mb | Typhoon |
| May 19, 18:00 | 18.3N 87.2E | 105 kt | 945 mb | Typhoon |
| May 20, 00:00 | 19.2N 87.5E | 100 kt | 947 mb | Typhoon |
| May 20, 06:00 | 20.5N 87.9E | 95 kt | 953 mb | Typhoon |
| May 20, 12:00 | 22.2N 88.3E | 95 kt | 954 mb | Typhoon |
| May 20, 18:00 | 23.7N 89.1E | 70 kt | 974 mb | Typhoon |
| May 21, 00:00 | 25.2N 90.1E | 50 kt | 984 mb | Tropical storm |
| May 21, 06:00 | 26.5N 91.4E | 30 kt | 1000 mb | Tropical depression |
| May 21, 12:00 | 25.4N 89.6E | 20 kt | 995 mb | Tropical storm |
Other North Indian storms of 2020
- Unnamed tropical depressionNorth Indian · 2020
- Cyclone NisargaNorth Indian · 2020
- Unnamed tropical depressionNorth Indian · 2020
- Unnamed tropical depressionNorth Indian · 2020
- Unnamed tropical depressionNorth Indian · 2020
- Cyclone GatiNorth Indian · 2020 · 9 deaths
- Cyclone NivarNorth Indian · 2020
- Tropical Storm BureviNorth Indian · 2020
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.