The 1987 season

Super Typhoon Dinah (1987)

Super Typhoon Dinah reached Category 4 in the Western Pacific between August 19, 1987 and September 3, 1987, with a lowest pressure of 915 mb, and made landfall.

Radar

Reflectivity now over Super Typhoon Dinah. Open it to see storms, cones and warnings on the map.

Open the live radar with storms, cones and warnings

Radar mosaic and map layers from NOAA MRMS. Boundaries from the Iowa Environmental Mesonet.

The storm

Basin
Western Pacific
Dates
August 19, 1987 to September 3, 1987
Peak strength
Category 4, 130 kt (150 mph)
Lowest pressure
915 mb (27.02 inHg)
Landfall
Yes
Accumulated cyclone energy
30.2
Fastest the center moved
34 kt (39 mph)
Identifier
WP111987

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, 06:009.7N 159.2E20 ktTropical storm
Aug 19, 12:0010.0N 157.6E20 ktTropical storm
Aug 19, 18:0010.2N 155.9E20 ktTropical storm
Aug 20, 00:0010.2N 154.3E25 ktTropical storm
Aug 20, 06:0010.5N 152.7E25 ktTropical storm
Aug 20, 12:0010.8N 151.6E25 ktTropical storm
Aug 20, 18:0011.5N 150.7E25 kt1006 mbTropical storm
Aug 21, 00:0012.2N 149.9E25 kt1006 mbTropical storm
Aug 21, 06:0012.2N 149.0E30 kt1006 mbTropical storm
Aug 21, 12:0011.8N 148.0E30 kt1004 mbTropical storm
Aug 21, 18:0011.3N 147.0E35 kt1002 mbTropical storm
Aug 22, 00:0011.1N 145.7E40 kt998 mbTropical storm
Aug 22, 06:0011.1N 144.2E40 kt996 mbTropical storm
Aug 22, 12:0011.1N 142.6E40 kt994 mbTropical storm
Aug 22, 18:0011.3N 141.2E45 kt994 mbTropical storm
Aug 23, 00:0011.4N 140.3E45 kt990 mbTropical storm
Aug 23, 06:0011.6N 139.7E45 kt985 mbTropical storm
Aug 23, 12:0011.8N 139.0E50 kt980 mbTropical storm
Aug 23, 18:0012.2N 138.2E55 kt975 mbTropical storm
Aug 24, 00:0012.8N 137.1E60 kt975 mbTropical storm
Aug 24, 06:0013.5N 135.9E65 kt970 mbTropical storm
Aug 24, 12:0014.0N 134.8E70 kt970 mbTropical storm
Aug 24, 18:0014.6N 133.7E75 kt965 mbTropical storm
Aug 25, 00:0015.2N 132.8E85 kt960 mbTropical storm
Aug 25, 06:0015.9N 131.8E100 kt950 mbTropical storm
Aug 25, 12:0016.7N 131.1E110 kt940 mbTropical storm
Aug 25, 18:0017.3N 130.6E120 kt930 mbTropical storm
Aug 26, 00:0017.9N 130.2E130 kt920 mbTropical storm
Aug 26, 06:0018.5N 130.0E125 kt920 mbTropical storm
Aug 26, 12:0019.0N 129.8E120 kt915 mbTropical storm
Aug 26, 18:0019.5N 129.5E115 kt915 mbTropical storm
Aug 27, 00:0019.9N 129.0E115 kt915 mbTropical storm
Aug 27, 06:0020.1N 128.6E115 kt915 mbTropical storm
Aug 27, 12:0020.4N 128.2E115 kt920 mbTropical storm
Aug 27, 18:0020.6N 127.8E115 kt925 mbTropical storm
Aug 28, 00:0021.0N 127.4E110 kt930 mbTropical storm
Aug 28, 06:0021.3N 127.0E110 kt930 mbTropical storm
Aug 28, 12:0021.6N 126.8E105 kt935 mbTropical storm
Aug 28, 18:0022.2N 126.5E95 kt935 mbTropical storm
Aug 29, 00:0023.0N 126.3E90 kt940 mbTropical storm
Aug 29, 06:0024.1N 126.2E90 kt940 mbTropical storm
Aug 29, 12:0025.2N 126.0E85 kt940 mbTropical storm
Aug 29, 18:0026.6N 126.0E85 kt940 mbTropical storm
Aug 30, 00:0028.1N 126.2E85 kt935 mbTropical storm
Aug 30, 06:0030.0N 126.6E85 kt935 mbTropical storm
Aug 30, 12:0031.8N 127.0E85 kt935 mbTropical storm
Aug 30, 18:0034.0N 128.7E75 kt945 mbTropical storm
Aug 31, 00:0036.8N 130.9E65 kt955 mbTropical storm
Aug 31, 06:0039.6N 133.0E55 kt960 mbTropical storm
Aug 31, 12:0041.4N 136.0E970 mbExtratropical
Aug 31, 18:0043.1N 138.9E976 mbExtratropical
Sep 1, 00:0045.1N 142.0E978 mbExtratropical
Sep 1, 06:0046.9N 146.1E980 mbExtratropical
Sep 1, 12:0047.8N 149.2E980 mbExtratropical
Sep 1, 18:0048.5N 152.0E980 mbExtratropical
Sep 2, 00:0049.5N 156.0E980 mbExtratropical
Sep 2, 06:0050.5N 159.5E980 mbExtratropical
Sep 2, 12:0051.0N 163.0E984 mbExtratropical
Sep 2, 18:0050.5N 166.5E988 mbExtratropical
Sep 3, 00:0050.0N 170.0E992 mbExtratropical
Sep 3, 06:0049.7N 173.0E996 mbExtratropical
Sep 3, 12:0049.4N 176.0E1000 mbExtratropical
Sep 3, 18:0049.0N 180.0E1004 mbExtratropical

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.