The 1987 season

Super Typhoon Betty (1987)

Super Typhoon Betty reached Category 5 in the Western Pacific between August 7, 1987 and August 17, 1987, with a lowest pressure of 890 mb, and made landfall.

Track and intensity

The whole track of Super Typhoon Betty, colored by strength, with the other storms of the 1987 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 7, 1987 to August 17, 1987
Peak strength
Category 5, 140 kt (161 mph)
Lowest pressure
890 mb (26.28 inHg)
Landfall
Yes
Accumulated cyclone energy
30.6
Fastest the center moved
21 kt (24 mph)
Identifier
WP091987

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 7, 00:008.4N 134.2E20 ktTropical storm
Aug 7, 06:008.7N 133.8E20 ktTropical storm
Aug 7, 12:008.8N 133.5E25 ktTropical storm
Aug 7, 18:009.1N 133.2E25 ktTropical storm
Aug 8, 00:009.2N 132.9E25 kt1004 mbTropical storm
Aug 8, 06:009.4N 132.7E25 kt1004 mbTropical storm
Aug 8, 12:009.7N 132.5E30 kt1002 mbTropical storm
Aug 8, 18:009.9N 132.3E30 kt1000 mbTropical storm
Aug 9, 00:0010.2N 132.2E35 kt996 mbTropical storm
Aug 9, 06:0010.4N 132.1E40 kt992 mbTropical storm
Aug 9, 12:0010.7N 131.9E45 kt992 mbTropical storm
Aug 9, 18:0010.9N 131.8E45 kt990 mbTropical storm
Aug 10, 00:0011.3N 131.7E55 kt985 mbTropical storm
Aug 10, 06:0011.6N 131.6E65 kt970 mbTropical storm
Aug 10, 12:0011.9N 131.1E85 kt955 mbTropical storm
Aug 10, 18:0012.1N 130.4E95 kt935 mbTropical storm
Aug 11, 00:0012.2N 129.6E110 kt920 mbTropical storm
Aug 11, 06:0012.2N 128.6E125 kt900 mbTropical storm
Aug 11, 12:0012.2N 127.6E140 kt890 mbTropical storm
Aug 11, 18:0012.3N 126.5E140 kt895 mbTropical storm
Aug 12, 00:0012.4N 125.5E135 kt910 mbTropical storm
Aug 12, 06:0012.7N 124.2E125 kt925 mbTropical storm
Aug 12, 12:0012.9N 122.9E120 kt930 mbTropical storm
Aug 12, 18:0013.3N 121.7E115 kt935 mbTropical storm
Aug 13, 00:0013.7N 120.5E110 kt935 mbTropical storm
Aug 13, 06:0014.1N 119.0E95 kt935 mbTropical storm
Aug 13, 12:0014.4N 117.6E100 kt930 mbTropical storm
Aug 13, 18:0014.8N 116.2E105 kt930 mbTropical storm
Aug 14, 00:0015.3N 115.1E105 kt930 mbTropical storm
Aug 14, 06:0015.7N 114.0E115 kt930 mbTropical storm
Aug 14, 12:0015.8N 112.7E115 kt930 mbTropical storm
Aug 14, 18:0015.8N 111.6E115 kt930 mbTropical storm
Aug 15, 00:0016.3N 110.8E115 kt930 mbTropical storm
Aug 15, 06:0016.7N 110.1E105 kt930 mbTropical storm
Aug 15, 12:0017.0N 109.2E95 kt940 mbTropical storm
Aug 15, 18:0017.3N 108.3E90 kt945 mbTropical storm
Aug 16, 00:0017.5N 107.5E80 kt950 mbTropical storm
Aug 16, 06:0017.7N 106.8E65 kt960 mbTropical storm
Aug 16, 12:0018.0N 105.6E45 kt985 mbTropical storm
Aug 16, 18:0018.1N 104.3E30 kt990 mbTropical storm
Aug 17, 00:0018.7N 102.0E25 kt996 mbTropical storm
Aug 17, 06:0019.8N 100.2E20 kt996 mbTropical storm
Aug 17, 12:0018.8N 99.3ETropical storm

Other Western Pacific storms of 1987

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.