Hurricane History Map

Typhoon Abby path, 1979

Western North Pacific basin, 29 November 1979 to 15 December 1979. Its recorded track is shown on the map and selected for you.

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Years1842 to 2026
Ocean basin

Choosing a minimum category hides storms with no wind speed in the record. To see which storms have passed near you, search a town or ZIP code, or tap the map.

Key
  • Tropical depression Winds below 34 knots (39 mph)
  • Tropical storm 34 to 63 knots (39 to 73 mph)
  • Category 1 64 to 82 knots (74 to 95 mph)
  • Category 2 83 to 95 knots (96 to 110 mph)
  • Category 3 96 to 112 knots (111 to 129 mph), major
  • Category 4 113 to 136 knots (130 to 156 mph), major
  • Category 5 137 knots (157 mph) or more, major
  • Unknown intensity No wind speed in the record
  • Post-tropical Storm has become post-tropical (dashed line)

How to read the lines. Each line is the track of one storm, drawn through its six-hourly positions and coloured by its intensity at each point (the Saffir-Simpson scale), so a line changes colour as the storm strengthens or weakens. Tap a line for its details, or tap anywhere else to see which storms have passed nearby. Weaker storms appear as you zoom in. Hurricanes, typhoons and cyclones are the same kind of storm with different names in different oceans.

What the record says

Abby was a typhoon in the Western North Pacific basin that lasted about 16 days, from 29 November 1979 to 15 December 1979. Its peak was Category 3 (110 kt) on 13 December 1979, with a 1-minute sustained wind of 110 kt (127 mph, 204 km/h). Its lowest recorded pressure was 950 hPa.

  • Category 3peak intensity
  • 110 ktpeak wind (127 mph)
  • 950 hPalowest pressure
  • 16 dayslifetime

Source of the peak wind: US Joint Typhoon Warning Center (western Pacific). The regional forecast centre (RSMC Tokyo (Japan Meteorological Agency)) gave a peak of 90 kt on its own averaging convention (10-minute winds), so the two figures differ.

It has its own page because it reached category 3 or stronger.

This page gives the official record's figures. It does not describe the human cost of the storm, which is far larger than any wind speed or pressure here.

Where it came ashore

The record shows no landfall: the storm stayed at sea.

Countries it came within 50 km of

Strongest effect first.

How to read this track

The line joins the storm's six-hourly positions with straight lines, coloured by its intensity at each point, so it shows how the storm strengthened and weakened. The real path curved between the positions. A dashed grey stretch means the storm had become post-tropical. Records before the satellite era (about the 1960s) are estimates.

Source: NOAA NCEI IBTrACS, public domain. See data sources and caveats.

Other notable storms of the 1979 Western North Pacific season

Other notable storms near Federated States of Micronesia

  • Phyllis (1958)23 May 1958 to 6 June 1958, peak Category 5 (160 kt), 940 hPa
  • Irma (1971)7 November 1971 to 17 November 1971, peak Category 5 (155 kt), 885 hPa
  • Amy (1971)27 April 1971 to 7 May 1971, peak Category 5 (150 kt), 890 hPa
  • Kit (1953)25 June 1953 to 8 July 1953, peak Category 5 (150 kt), 910 hPa
  • Lola (1986)14 May 1986 to 25 May 1986, peak Category 5 (150 kt), 910 hPa

The 1979 Western North Pacific season · All notable storms

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