The 1986 season

Tropical Storm Isis (1986)

Tropical Storm Isis peaked at 45 kt in the Eastern Pacific between August 19, 1986 and August 24, 1986.

Track and intensity

The whole track of Tropical Storm Isis, colored by strength, with the other storms of the 1986 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
Eastern Pacific
Dates
August 19, 1986 to August 24, 1986
Peak strength
Tropical Storm, 45 kt (52 mph)
Landfall
No; closest approach 938 km (583 mi)
Accumulated cyclone energy
2.1
Fastest the center moved
14 kt (16 mph)
Identifier
EP091986

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 19, 18:0015.4N 114.0W25 ktTropical depression
Aug 20, 00:0015.5N 115.0W25 ktTropical depression
Aug 20, 06:0015.8N 116.0W30 ktTropical depression
Aug 20, 12:0016.0N 117.5W35 ktTropical storm
Aug 20, 18:0016.4N 118.8W35 ktTropical storm
Aug 21, 00:0016.7N 120.2W45 ktTropical storm
Aug 21, 06:0017.1N 121.6W45 ktTropical storm
Aug 21, 12:0017.7N 122.9W45 ktTropical storm
Aug 21, 18:0018.4N 124.1W45 ktTropical storm
Aug 22, 00:0019.0N 125.2W40 ktTropical storm
Aug 22, 06:0019.7N 126.4W45 ktTropical storm
Aug 22, 12:0020.4N 127.6W45 ktTropical storm
Aug 22, 18:0021.0N 128.9W45 ktTropical storm
Aug 23, 00:0021.6N 130.2W40 ktTropical storm
Aug 23, 06:0022.0N 131.6W35 ktTropical storm
Aug 23, 12:0022.0N 133.0W30 ktTropical depression
Aug 23, 18:0021.6N 134.1W25 ktTropical depression
Aug 24, 00:0021.1N 135.1W25 ktTropical depression

Other Eastern Pacific storms of 1986

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.

The National Hurricane Center has published no tropical cyclone report for this storm.