The 1948 season

Unnamed tropical depression (1948)

Unnamed tropical depression peaked at unknown kt in the South Pacific between March 20, 1948 and March 27, 1948, with a lowest pressure of 990 mb.

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.

Open the live map with storms, cones and warnings

The storm

Basin
South Pacific
Dates
March 20, 1948 to March 27, 1948
Peak strength
Tropical Depression
Lowest pressure
990 mb (29.23 inHg)
Landfall
No; closest approach 106 km (66 mi)
Accumulated cyclone energy
0.0
Identifier
SH191948

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
Mar 20, 00:0012.1S 155.5ETropical storm
Mar 20, 06:0012.6S 155.2ETropical storm
Mar 20, 12:0013.2S 155.0ETropical storm
Mar 20, 18:0013.8S 154.7ETropical storm
Mar 21, 00:0014.4S 154.4ETropical storm
Mar 21, 06:0015.1S 154.1ETropical storm
Mar 21, 12:0015.8S 153.9ETropical storm
Mar 21, 18:0016.6S 153.7ETropical storm
Mar 22, 00:0017.3S 153.6ETropical storm
Mar 22, 06:0018.1S 153.3ETropical storm
Mar 22, 12:0018.9S 153.1ETropical storm
Mar 22, 18:0019.7S 152.9ETropical storm
Mar 23, 00:0020.4S 152.8ETropical storm
Mar 23, 06:0021.3S 152.7ETropical storm
Mar 23, 12:0022.1S 152.6ETropical storm
Mar 23, 18:0022.8S 152.7ETropical storm
Mar 24, 00:0023.4S 152.8ETropical storm
Mar 24, 06:0024.3S 153.1ETropical storm
Mar 24, 12:0025.0S 153.5ETropical storm
Mar 24, 18:0025.5S 154.0ETropical storm
Mar 25, 00:0026.1S 155.1ETropical storm
Mar 25, 06:0026.6S 156.5ETropical storm
Mar 25, 12:0027.2S 158.1ETropical storm
Mar 25, 18:0027.7S 159.6ETropical storm
Mar 26, 00:0028.2S 161.1ETropical storm
Mar 26, 06:0028.9S 162.4ETropical storm
Mar 26, 12:0029.8S 163.2ETropical storm
Mar 26, 18:0031.0S 163.5ETropical storm
Mar 27, 00:0033.4S 167.2ETropical 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.