The 1948 season

Tropical Storm Chris (1948)

Tropical Storm Chris peaked at 50 kt in the Western Pacific between August 8, 1948 and August 14, 1948.

Track and intensity

The whole track of Tropical Storm Chris, colored by strength, with the other storms of the 1948 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
August 8, 1948 to August 14, 1948
Peak strength
Tropical Storm, 50 kt (58 mph)
Landfall
No; closest approach 571 km (355 mi)
Accumulated cyclone energy
2.6
Identifier
WP091948

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
Aug 8, 00:0019.0N 142.0E20 ktTropical storm
Aug 8, 06:0020.0N 141.6E25 ktTropical storm
Aug 8, 12:0021.0N 141.0E25 ktTropical storm
Aug 8, 18:0022.0N 140.3E30 ktTropical storm
Aug 9, 00:0022.5N 139.8E30 ktTropical storm
Aug 9, 06:0022.9N 139.3E35 ktTropical storm
Aug 9, 12:0023.2N 138.9E40 ktTropical storm
Aug 9, 18:0023.7N 137.9E40 ktTropical storm
Aug 10, 00:0024.0N 137.0E50 ktTropical storm
Aug 10, 06:0024.0N 135.8E45 ktTropical storm
Aug 10, 12:0023.8N 134.5E40 ktTropical storm
Aug 10, 18:0023.6N 134.0E40 ktTropical storm
Aug 11, 00:0023.4N 133.1E40 ktTropical storm
Aug 11, 06:0023.3N 132.5E50 ktTropical storm
Aug 11, 12:0023.2N 132.0E50 ktTropical storm
Aug 11, 18:0023.2N 131.7E45 ktTropical storm
Aug 12, 00:0023.2N 131.3E35 ktTropical storm
Aug 12, 06:0023.2N 131.2E35 ktTropical storm
Aug 12, 12:0023.0N 130.7E35 ktTropical storm
Aug 12, 18:0022.6N 130.0E35 ktTropical storm
Aug 13, 00:0022.4N 129.8E30 ktTropical storm
Aug 13, 06:0022.2N 129.3E30 ktTropical storm
Aug 13, 12:0021.5N 128.0E25 ktTropical storm
Aug 13, 18:0021.5N 127.7E25 ktTropical storm
Aug 14, 00:0021.3N 127.4E25 ktTropical storm
Aug 14, 06:0021.0N 127.0E25 ktTropical storm

Other Western Pacific storms of 1948

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.