The 1938 season

Unnamed tropical depression (1938)

Unnamed tropical depression peaked at unknown kt in the Western Pacific between September 18, 1938 and September 26, 1938.

Track and intensity

The whole track of Unnamed tropical depression, colored by strength, with the other storms of the 1938 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
Western Pacific
Dates
September 18, 1938 to September 26, 1938
Peak strength
Tropical Depression
Landfall
No; closest approach 52 km (32 mi)
Accumulated cyclone energy
0.0
Identifier
1938261N18154

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
Sep 18, 00:0018.2N 154.2ETropical storm
Sep 18, 06:0018.2N 153.7ETropical storm
Sep 18, 12:0018.4N 153.1ETropical storm
Sep 18, 18:0018.7N 152.4ETropical storm
Sep 19, 00:0019.1N 151.7ETropical storm
Sep 19, 06:0019.4N 151.1ETropical storm
Sep 19, 12:0019.7N 150.4ETropical storm
Sep 19, 18:0020.0N 149.5ETropical storm
Sep 20, 00:0020.3N 148.9ETropical storm
Sep 20, 06:0020.8N 148.7ETropical storm
Sep 20, 12:0021.3N 148.3ETropical storm
Sep 20, 18:0021.8N 147.6ETropical storm
Sep 21, 00:0022.2N 146.9ETropical storm
Sep 21, 06:0022.6N 146.4ETropical storm
Sep 21, 12:0022.8N 145.8ETropical storm
Sep 21, 18:0023.0N 145.1ETropical storm
Sep 22, 00:0023.2N 144.7ETropical storm
Sep 22, 06:0023.4N 144.6ETropical storm
Sep 22, 12:0023.9N 143.4ETropical storm
Sep 22, 18:0024.6N 141.2ETropical storm
Sep 23, 00:0025.3N 139.7ETropical storm
Sep 23, 06:0026.0N 138.9ETropical storm
Sep 23, 12:0027.1N 138.4ETropical storm
Sep 23, 18:0028.4N 138.0ETropical storm
Sep 24, 00:0029.3N 137.6ETropical storm
Sep 24, 06:0029.9N 137.4ETropical storm
Sep 24, 12:0032.1N 139.0ETropical storm
Sep 24, 18:0035.7N 142.6ETropical storm
Sep 25, 00:0039.1N 145.6ETropical storm
Sep 25, 06:0042.2N 147.7ETropical storm
Sep 25, 12:0045.2N 150.2ETropical storm
Sep 25, 18:0047.8N 153.2ETropical storm
Sep 26, 00:0049.6N 155.8ETropical storm
Sep 26, 06:0050.5N 157.6ETropical storm

Other Western Pacific storms of 1938

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.