The 1985 season

Tropical Storm Pierre (1985)

Tropical Storm Pierre peaked at 45 kt in the South Pacific between February 18, 1985 and February 24, 1985, with a lowest pressure of 986 mb, and made landfall.

Track and intensity

The whole track of Tropical Storm Pierre, colored by strength, with the other storms of the 1985 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
February 18, 1985 to February 24, 1985
Peak strength
Tropical Storm, 45 kt (52 mph)
Lowest pressure
986 mb (29.12 inHg)
Landfall
Yes
Accumulated cyclone energy
1.3
Identifier
SH261985

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
Feb 18, 06:0011.5S 143.4E25 kt1002 mbTropical storm
Feb 18, 12:0011.6S 144.1E25 kt1002 mbTropical storm
Feb 18, 18:0011.7S 144.7E25 kt1002 mbTropical storm
Feb 19, 00:0012.0S 145.2E25 kt1004 mbTropical storm
Feb 19, 06:0012.7S 145.2E25 kt1001 mbXX
Feb 19, 12:0013.3S 145.5E25 kt1000 mbXX
Feb 19, 18:0014.0S 145.9E25 kt999 mbXX
Feb 20, 00:0014.7S 146.3E30 kt998 mbXX
Feb 20, 06:0015.4S 146.7E35 kt995 mbXX
Feb 20, 12:0016.4S 147.3E40 kt995 mbXX
Feb 20, 18:0017.6S 148.0E45 kt991 mbXX
Feb 21, 00:0019.0S 148.8E45 kt986 mbXX
Feb 21, 06:0020.3S 149.5E40 kt986 mbXX
Feb 21, 12:0021.4S 150.2E40 kt990 mbXX
Feb 21, 18:0022.2S 150.8E35 kt995 mbXX
Feb 22, 00:0022.8S 151.4E35 kt999 mbXX
Feb 22, 06:0023.3S 152.0E30 kt1000 mbXX
Feb 22, 12:0023.7S 152.9E30 kt1001 mbXX
Feb 22, 18:0023.9S 154.0E25 kt1001 mbXX
Feb 23, 00:0023.9S 155.0E25 kt1003 mbXX
Feb 23, 06:0023.8S 156.1E20 kt1003 mbXX
Feb 23, 12:0023.5S 156.9E25 kt1005 mbXX
Feb 23, 18:0023.5S 157.7E25 kt1005 mbTropical storm
Feb 24, 00:0023.5S 158.5E25 kt1005 mbTropical storm
Feb 24, 06:0023.8S 160.0E25 kt1003 mbTropical storm

Other South Pacific storms of 1985

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.