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All storm pages · 1980 Atlantic season

Hurricane Allen 1980

Category 5 hurricane · Atlantic · August 1 to August 11, 1980

Allen's peak sustained wind of 190 mph is tied for the highest of the 1,988 storms in the Atlantic record since 1851, and one of 44 Category 5 storms in that record. Its central pressure fell to 899 mb, the seventh-lowest among the 1,277 Atlantic storms with a recorded pressure. It generated 36% of the season's accumulated cyclone energy, more than any other 1980 storm. The name Allen is on the National Hurricane Center's list of retired Atlantic hurricane names.

Track of Allen (1980) from the best-track record, coloured by strength10°N20°N30°N100°W90°W80°W70°W60°W50°W40°WLaredoBridgetownPeak 190 mphFirst recordNot tropicalDepressionTropical stormCategory 1Category 2Category 3Category 4Category 500 and 12 UTC

Strength over time

Maximum sustained wind of Allen (1980) over time, in mphTSCat 1Cat 2Cat 3Cat 4Cat 504080120160200Aug 1Aug 3Aug 5Aug 7Aug 9Aug 11mph
  1. First record (disturbance) far out at sea, at 11.0°N, 30.0°W
  2. Tropical storm 915 miles east-northeast of Paramaribo, Suriname
  3. Hurricane 520 miles north-northeast of Paramaribo, Suriname
  4. Major hurricane 35 miles east-northeast of Bridgetown, Saint Michael, Barbados
  5. Peak 45 miles north-northeast of Isla Mujeres, Quintana Roo, Mexico
  6. Last record (tropical depression) 100 miles east-southeast of Ojinaga, Chihuahua, Mexico

Against every Atlantic storm since 1851

Peak sustained wind190 mph · tied 1st of 1,98830 mph190 mph
Lowest central pressure899 mb · 7th of 1,277882 mb1016 mb
Accumulated cyclone energy52.3 · 12th of 1,7520.173.6
Days as a tropical or subtropical cyclone10.8 days · tied 196th of 1,9880.0 days31.8 days

In the 1980 season

04080120160200Allen

Storm 4 of 18 in 1980, hurricane 1 of 9; it formed after Storm 3 of 1980 and before Storm 5 of 1980. See the season.

Places the center passed

The best-track file has no landfall records for Atlantic storms of 1980, so the track itself shows where this storm went. The center came within 50 miles of at least 8 towns or cities of 10,000 people or more while the system was tropical. Distances are to the interpolated track line, not the storm's edge.

PlaceClosestWind thenDate
Laredo, Texas3 mi75 mphAugust 10
Nuevo Laredo, Tamaulipas, Mexico4 mi75 mphAugust 10
Nueva Rosita, Coahuila, Mexico13 mi45 mphAugust 11
Harlingen, Texas13 mi110 mphAugust 10
Bridgetown, Saint Michael, Barbados19 mi125 mphAugust 4
Brownsville, Texas21 mi115 mphAugust 10
Allende, Coahuila, Mexico21 mi50 mphAugust 11
Port Antonio, Portland, Jamaica22 mi130 mphAugust 6

Every storm within 50 miles of Laredo, Texas

Also peaked at 190 mph

One storm from other Atlantic seasons: