Track map & timeline · Atlantic · June 29 – July 1, 1981
TD TS Cat 1 2 3 4 5 · dashed = post-tropical / remnant low. Click any point or table row to jump there.
01 · The story
Tropical Storm Bret (1981) was a tropical storm of the 1981 Atlantic season. It formed on June 29, 1981, reached its peak of 69 mph (111 km/h) and a minimum pressure of 996 mb on June 30, 1981, and never made landfall. The storm lasted 2.0 days and travelled about 797 miles (1,282 km).
02 · Intensity
03 · Impact
| City | Distance to center | When (UTC) | Storm strength then |
|---|---|---|---|
| Virginia Beach, Virginia | 30 mi | Jul 1 · 04:00 UTC | TS 42 mph |
| Norfolk, Virginia | 40 mi | Jul 1 · 05:00 UTC | TD 38 mph |
| Chesapeake, Virginia | 41 mi | Jul 1 · 05:00 UTC | TD 38 mph |
| Newport News, Virginia | 37 mi | Jul 1 · 06:00 UTC | TD 35 mph |
| East Hampton, Virginia | 31 mi | Jul 1 · 06:00 UTC | TD 35 mph |
| Hampton, Virginia | 32 mi | Jul 1 · 06:00 UTC | TD 35 mph |
| Richmond, Virginia | 30 mi | Jul 1 · 09:00 UTC | TD 29 mph |
| Washington, District of Columbia | 63 mi | Jul 1 · 10:00 UTC | TD 27 mph |
| Arlington, Virginia | 60 mi | Jul 1 · 10:00 UTC | TD 27 mph |
| Alexandria, Virginia | 57 mi | Jul 1 · 10:00 UTC | TD 27 mph |
Distance from the city to the storm’s center, interpolated hourly between official fixes. Damaging winds, surge and rain reach far beyond the center.
04 · Timeline
| Date · UTC | Status | Wind | Pressure | Position | Nearest place |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Jun 29 12:00 | TS | 40 mph | 1012 mb | 36.0°N 65.0°W | open ocean |
| Jun 29 18:00 | TS | 52 mph | 1007 mb | 36.0°N 67.0°W | open ocean |
| Jun 30 00:00 | TS | 63 mph | 1003 mb | 36.0°N 69.0°W | open ocean |
| Jun 30 06:00 | TS | 69 mph | 999 mb | 36.0°N 71.0°W | open ocean |
| Jun 30 12:00 | TS | 69 mph | 996 mb | 36.0°N 72.5°W | open ocean |
| Jun 30 18:00 | TS | 69 mph | 996 mb | 36.2°N 73.8°W | 129 mi ESE of Virginia Beach, Virginia |
| Jul 1 00:00 | TS | 58 mph | 1000 mb | 36.6°N 74.7°W | 73 mi ESE of Virginia Beach, Virginia |
| Jul 1 06:00 | TD | 35 mph | 1006 mb | 37.4°N 76.0°W | 31 mi NE of East Hampton, Virginia |
| Jul 1 12:00 | TD | 23 mph | — | 38.5°N 78.5°W | 20 mi E of Harrisonburg, Virginia |
⬇ Download track data (CSV) · public-domain NOAA best track
Questions
No — the NOAA best-track record shows no landfall for Bret. Its closest approach to a major city was 30 miles from Richmond, Virginia.
At its peak on June 30, 1981, Bret was a tropical storm with maximum sustained winds of 69 mph (111 km/h) and a central pressure of 996 mb.
2.0 days, from June 29, 1981 to July 1, 1981. It travelled about 797 miles.
The 6-hourly positions, winds, pressure and wind radii are available as CSV on this page (track.csv) — they come from the NOAA National Hurricane Center's HURDAT2 database and are in the public domain.
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