The 1986 season

Tropical Storm Lusi (1986)

Tropical Storm Lusi peaked at 45 kt in the South Pacific between March 1, 1986 and March 11, 1986, with a lowest pressure of 990 mb.

Track and intensity

The whole track of Tropical Storm Lusi, 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
South Pacific
Dates
March 1, 1986 to March 11, 1986
Peak strength
Tropical Storm, 45 kt (52 mph)
Lowest pressure
990 mb (29.23 inHg)
Landfall
No; closest approach 186 km (116 mi)
Accumulated cyclone energy
3.3
Identifier
SH231986

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 1, 00:0016.1S 158.0ETropical storm
Mar 1, 06:0016.5S 158.1ETropical storm
Mar 1, 12:0016.9S 158.2ETropical storm
Mar 1, 18:0017.5S 158.4ETropical storm
Mar 2, 00:0018.0S 158.4ETropical storm
Mar 2, 06:0020.8S 162.2E25 ktTropical storm
Mar 2, 12:0020.9S 161.2E25 ktTropical storm
Mar 2, 18:0020.8S 160.4E25 ktTropical storm
Mar 3, 00:0020.4S 159.7E25 ktTropical storm
Mar 3, 06:0020.0S 159.3E30 kt997 mbTropical storm
Mar 3, 12:0019.5S 159.3E30 kt997 mbTropical storm
Mar 3, 18:0019.0S 159.8E30 kt997 mbTropical storm
Mar 4, 00:0018.8S 160.5E30 ktTropical storm
Mar 4, 06:0018.7S 161.2E35 kt997 mbTropical storm
Mar 4, 12:0018.7S 161.9E35 kt995 mbTropical storm
Mar 4, 18:0018.7S 162.7E40 kt995 mbTropical storm
Mar 5, 00:0018.6S 163.4E45 kt995 mbTropical storm
Mar 5, 06:0018.6S 164.2E45 kt995 mbTropical storm
Mar 5, 12:0018.6S 164.8E45 kt995 mbTropical storm
Mar 5, 18:0018.6S 165.3E45 kt995 mbTropical storm
Mar 6, 00:0018.7S 165.9E45 kt995 mbTropical storm
Mar 6, 06:0018.8S 166.6E45 kt990 mbTropical storm
Mar 6, 12:0019.0S 167.4E45 kt990 mbTropical storm
Mar 6, 18:0019.4S 168.4E45 kt990 mbTropical storm
Mar 7, 00:0019.9S 169.7E45 kt990 mbTropical storm
Mar 7, 06:0020.6S 171.2E45 kt990 mbTropical storm
Mar 7, 12:0021.3S 172.9E45 kt990 mbTropical storm
Mar 7, 18:0022.1S 174.7E45 kt990 mbTropical storm
Mar 8, 00:0023.0S 176.3E45 kt995 mbTropical storm
Mar 8, 06:0024.1S 177.8E40 kt997 mbTropical storm
Mar 8, 12:0025.3S 179.0E35 kt997 mbTropical storm
Mar 8, 18:0026.5S 180.0W30 kt997 mbTropical storm
Mar 9, 00:0027.8S 181.5E30 kt997 mbTropical storm
Mar 9, 06:0029.0S 181.6E30 kt997 mbTropical storm
Mar 9, 12:0030.0S 181.7E30 kt997 mbTropical storm
Mar 9, 18:0031.0S 181.8E30 kt997 mbTropical storm
Mar 10, 00:0031.9S 182.1E30 kt997 mbTropical storm
Mar 10, 06:0032.3S 182.7E30 kt997 mbTropical storm
Mar 10, 12:0032.7S 183.9E30 kt997 mbTropical storm
Mar 10, 18:0032.9S 184.4ETropical storm
Mar 11, 00:0033.1S 185.1ETropical storm

Other South 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.