The 1948 season

Unnamed tropical depression (1948)

Unnamed tropical depression peaked at unknown kt in the South Pacific between January 11, 1948 and January 16, 1948, with a lowest pressure of 995 mb, and made landfall.

Track and intensity

The whole track of Unnamed tropical depression, 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
South Pacific
Dates
January 11, 1948 to January 16, 1948
Peak strength
Tropical Depression
Lowest pressure
995 mb (29.38 inHg)
Landfall
Yes
Accumulated cyclone energy
0.0
Identifier
SH041948

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
Jan 11, 00:0016.0S 139.8ETropical storm
Jan 11, 06:0016.1S 139.6ETropical storm
Jan 11, 12:0016.2S 139.4ETropical storm
Jan 11, 18:0016.4S 139.2ETropical storm
Jan 12, 00:0016.6S 139.2ETropical storm
Jan 12, 06:0017.0S 139.7ETropical storm
Jan 12, 12:0017.2S 140.3ETropical storm
Jan 12, 18:0017.5S 140.7ETropical storm
Jan 13, 00:0017.6S 141.0ETropical storm
Jan 13, 06:0017.7S 141.3ETropical storm
Jan 13, 12:0017.8S 141.5ETropical storm
Jan 13, 18:0017.9S 141.8ETropical storm
Jan 14, 00:0018.0S 142.1ETropical storm
Jan 14, 06:0018.2S 143.6ETropical storm
Jan 14, 12:0018.3S 145.5ETropical storm
Jan 14, 18:0018.2S 147.2ETropical storm
Jan 15, 00:0018.3S 148.9ETropical storm
Jan 15, 06:0018.8S 150.4ETropical storm
Jan 15, 12:0019.5S 151.7ETropical storm
Jan 15, 18:0020.3S 152.8ETropical storm
Jan 16, 00:0021.1S 154.0ETropical storm
Jan 16, 06:0021.9S 155.6ETropical storm
Jan 16, 12:0022.7S 157.3ETropical storm
Jan 16, 18:0023.5S 159.1ETropical storm

Other South 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.