The 1986 season

Cyclone Winifred (1986)

Cyclone Winifred reached Category 2 in the South Pacific between January 27, 1986 and February 5, 1986, with a lowest pressure of 957 mb, and made landfall.

Track and intensity

The whole track of Cyclone Winifred, 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
January 27, 1986 to February 5, 1986
Peak strength
Category 2, 90 kt (104 mph)
Lowest pressure
957 mb (28.26 inHg)
Landfall
Yes
Accumulated cyclone energy
4.3
Fastest the center moved
10 kt (12 mph)
Identifier
SH121986

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
Jan 27, 00:0012.5S 144.5ETropical storm
Jan 27, 06:0012.6S 144.7E25 kt1003 mbTropical storm
Jan 27, 12:0012.6S 144.9E25 kt1004 mbTropical storm
Jan 27, 18:0012.6S 145.1E25 kt1003 mbTropical storm
Jan 28, 00:0012.5S 145.4E25 kt1004 mbTropical storm
Jan 28, 06:0012.5S 145.7E25 kt1003 mbTropical storm
Jan 28, 12:0012.6S 146.1E25 kt1003 mbTropical storm
Jan 28, 18:0012.2S 145.3E25 kt1002 mbTropical storm
Jan 29, 00:0012.5S 146.0E25 kt1000 mbTropical storm
Jan 29, 06:0012.9S 146.4E30 kt998 mbTropical storm
Jan 29, 12:0013.2S 146.5E30 kt998 mbTropical storm
Jan 29, 18:0013.6S 146.5E35 kt995 mbTropical storm
Jan 30, 00:0014.0S 146.5E40 kt994 mbTropical storm
Jan 30, 06:0014.4S 146.5E45 kt991 mbTropical storm
Jan 30, 12:0014.8S 146.7E45 kt987 mbTropical storm
Jan 30, 18:0015.1S 147.0E50 kt983 mbTropical storm
Jan 31, 00:0015.3S 147.3E50 kt978 mbTropical storm
Jan 31, 06:0015.5S 147.7E55 kt975 mbTropical storm
Jan 31, 12:0015.8S 148.0E55 kt973 mbTropical storm
Jan 31, 18:0016.2S 148.1E60 kt972 mbTropical storm
Feb 1, 00:0016.8S 147.4E75 kt968 mbTropical storm
Feb 1, 06:0017.4S 146.4E90 kt961 mbTropical storm
Feb 1, 12:0018.0S 145.8E80 kt982 mbTropical storm
Feb 1, 18:0018.5S 145.3E40 kt991 mbTropical storm
Feb 2, 00:0019.2S 144.3E30 kt995 mbTropical storm
Feb 2, 06:0020.1S 143.6E25 kt996 mbTropical storm
Feb 2, 12:0020.5S 143.0E20 kt997 mbTropical storm
Feb 2, 18:0020.6S 142.4E20 kt998 mbTropical storm
Feb 3, 00:0020.7S 141.8E20 kt999 mbTropical storm
Feb 3, 06:0020.9S 141.5E20 kt999 mbTropical storm
Feb 3, 12:0021.3S 141.8E15 kt1000 mbTropical storm
Feb 3, 18:0021.4S 142.2E15 kt1002 mbTropical storm
Feb 4, 00:0021.6S 142.5E10 kt1004 mbTropical storm
Feb 4, 06:0021.8S 142.8E10 kt1003 mbTropical storm
Feb 4, 12:0022.1S 142.9E10 kt1004 mbTropical storm
Feb 4, 18:0022.3S 143.2E10 kt1003 mbTropical storm
Feb 5, 00:0022.3S 143.3E10 kt1006 mbTropical storm
Feb 5, 06:0022.0S 143.6E10 kt1003 mbTropical storm
Feb 5, 12:0021.5S 143.9E10 kt1003 mbTropical storm
Feb 5, 18:0020.9S 144.2E10 kt1003 mbTropical 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.