The 1987 season

Typhoon Freda (1987)

Typhoon Freda reached Category 4 in the Western Pacific between September 3, 1987 and September 20, 1987, with a lowest pressure of 915 mb.

Radar

Reflectivity now over Typhoon Freda. 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
September 3, 1987 to September 20, 1987
Peak strength
Category 4, 125 kt (144 mph)
Lowest pressure
915 mb (27.02 inHg)
Landfall
No; closest approach 319 km (198 mi)
Accumulated cyclone energy
30.7
Identifier
WP131987

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
Sep 3, 18:009.4N 149.5E20 ktTropical storm
Sep 4, 00:009.9N 148.2E20 kt1006 mbTropical storm
Sep 4, 06:0010.4N 146.9E25 kt1004 mbTropical storm
Sep 4, 12:0011.3N 145.8E25 kt1006 mbTropical storm
Sep 4, 18:0012.3N 145.0E25 kt1004 mbTropical storm
Sep 5, 00:0013.0N 144.0E30 kt1006 mbTropical storm
Sep 5, 06:0013.6N 142.8E35 kt1002 mbTropical storm
Sep 5, 12:0014.3N 141.8E40 kt1002 mbTropical storm
Sep 5, 18:0014.9N 141.0E45 kt1000 mbTropical storm
Sep 6, 00:0014.7N 140.7E50 kt998 mbTropical storm
Sep 6, 06:0014.5N 140.9E55 kt996 mbTropical storm
Sep 6, 12:0014.6N 141.3E60 kt994 mbTropical storm
Sep 6, 18:0015.0N 141.4E65 kt990 mbTropical storm
Sep 7, 00:0015.2N 141.4E65 kt985 mbTropical storm
Sep 7, 06:0015.3N 141.3E70 kt980 mbTropical storm
Sep 7, 12:0015.5N 141.2E70 kt975 mbTropical storm
Sep 7, 18:0015.6N 141.0E75 kt970 mbTropical storm
Sep 8, 00:0015.7N 140.8E80 kt965 mbTropical storm
Sep 8, 06:0015.8N 140.7E85 kt960 mbTropical storm
Sep 8, 12:0016.1N 140.3E90 kt955 mbTropical storm
Sep 8, 18:0016.4N 139.7E95 kt950 mbTropical storm
Sep 9, 00:0016.4N 139.0E100 kt940 mbTropical storm
Sep 9, 06:0016.5N 138.5E110 kt930 mbTropical storm
Sep 9, 12:0016.7N 138.1E115 kt920 mbTropical storm
Sep 9, 18:0016.9N 137.8E120 kt915 mbTropical storm
Sep 10, 00:0017.0N 137.5E125 kt915 mbTropical storm
Sep 10, 06:0017.2N 137.2E125 kt915 mbTropical storm
Sep 10, 12:0017.3N 137.1E120 kt915 mbTropical storm
Sep 10, 18:0017.5N 137.0E115 kt925 mbTropical storm
Sep 11, 00:0017.7N 137.0E110 kt930 mbTropical storm
Sep 11, 06:0017.9N 137.1E105 kt940 mbTropical storm
Sep 11, 12:0018.3N 137.3E100 kt945 mbTropical storm
Sep 11, 18:0018.6N 137.6E95 kt950 mbTropical storm
Sep 12, 00:0019.0N 137.9E90 kt950 mbTropical storm
Sep 12, 06:0019.4N 138.3E85 kt950 mbTropical storm
Sep 12, 12:0019.8N 138.6E80 kt955 mbTropical storm
Sep 12, 18:0020.2N 138.9E75 kt960 mbTropical storm
Sep 13, 00:0020.8N 139.2E70 kt960 mbTropical storm
Sep 13, 06:0021.3N 139.4E65 kt955 mbTropical storm
Sep 13, 12:0022.0N 139.6E65 kt950 mbTropical storm
Sep 13, 18:0022.6N 139.8E60 kt950 mbTropical storm
Sep 14, 00:0023.3N 139.9E60 kt950 mbTropical storm
Sep 14, 06:0024.0N 140.1E55 kt950 mbTropical storm
Sep 14, 12:0024.8N 140.2E55 kt950 mbTropical storm
Sep 14, 18:0025.6N 140.2E55 kt950 mbTropical storm
Sep 15, 00:0026.6N 140.2E50 kt955 mbTropical storm
Sep 15, 06:0027.6N 140.1E50 kt955 mbTropical storm
Sep 15, 12:0028.6N 139.9E50 kt960 mbTropical storm
Sep 15, 18:0029.6N 140.0E50 kt960 mbTropical storm
Sep 16, 00:0030.4N 140.3E45 kt965 mbTropical storm
Sep 16, 06:0031.1N 140.7E45 kt965 mbTropical storm
Sep 16, 12:0031.9N 141.4E45 kt970 mbTropical storm
Sep 16, 18:0032.6N 142.3E40 kt970 mbTropical storm
Sep 17, 00:0033.4N 143.0E30 kt975 mbTropical storm
Sep 17, 06:0033.7N 143.9E25 kt975 mbTropical storm
Sep 17, 12:0034.5N 144.7E20 kt975 mbMixed
Sep 17, 18:0035.0N 148.0E55 kt980 mbMixed
Sep 18, 00:0036.0N 150.0E50 kt980 mbMixed
Sep 18, 06:0036.9N 152.0E50 kt975 mbMixed
Sep 18, 12:0037.9N 154.4E50 kt975 mbMixed
Sep 18, 18:0039.7N 157.1E50 kt975 mbMixed
Sep 19, 00:0041.8N 159.0E980 mbExtratropical
Sep 19, 06:0044.0N 161.0E984 mbExtratropical
Sep 19, 12:0047.0N 163.0E988 mbExtratropical
Sep 19, 18:0050.0N 165.0E990 mbExtratropical
Sep 20, 00:0052.0N 167.0E992 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.