The 1983 season

Tropical Storm Ben (1983)

Tropical Storm Ben peaked at 50 kt in the Western Pacific between August 11, 1983 and August 15, 1983, with a lowest pressure of 985 mb, and made landfall.

Track and intensity

The whole track of Tropical Storm Ben, colored by strength, with the other storms of the 1983 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
Western Pacific
Dates
August 11, 1983 to August 15, 1983
Peak strength
Tropical Storm, 50 kt (58 mph)
Lowest pressure
985 mb (29.09 inHg)
Landfall
Yes
Accumulated cyclone energy
2.4
Identifier
WP071983

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 11, 06:0022.5N 142.5E1004 mbTropical storm
Aug 11, 12:0023.4N 143.5E1004 mbTropical storm
Aug 11, 18:0023.9N 144.5E1004 mbTropical storm
Aug 12, 00:0024.3N 145.1E30 kt1000 mbTropical storm
Aug 12, 06:0024.9N 145.8E35 kt998 mbTropical storm
Aug 12, 12:0025.7N 146.1E40 kt996 mbTropical storm
Aug 12, 18:0027.0N 146.0E40 kt994 mbTropical storm
Aug 13, 00:0028.0N 145.6E40 kt994 mbTropical storm
Aug 13, 06:0028.7N 145.4E45 kt990 mbTropical storm
Aug 13, 12:0029.3N 145.3E50 kt985 mbTropical storm
Aug 13, 18:0030.0N 145.4E50 kt990 mbTropical storm
Aug 14, 00:0030.9N 145.2E50 kt990 mbTropical storm
Aug 14, 06:0032.2N 144.5E45 kt992 mbTropical storm
Aug 14, 12:0033.1N 143.4E45 kt992 mbTropical storm
Aug 14, 18:0034.1N 141.6E45 kt990 mbTropical storm
Aug 15, 00:0034.6N 139.1E45 kt988 mbTropical storm
Aug 15, 06:0035.2N 136.2E30 kt990 mbTropical storm

Other Western Pacific storms of 1983

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.