The 1987 season

Super Typhoon Holly (1987)

Super Typhoon Holly reached Category 5 in the Western Pacific between September 1, 1987 and September 18, 1987, with a lowest pressure of 900 mb.

Radar

Reflectivity now over Super Typhoon Holly. 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 1, 1987 to September 18, 1987
Peak strength
Category 5, 140 kt (161 mph)
Lowest pressure
900 mb (26.58 inHg)
Landfall
No; closest approach 1075 km (668 mi)
Accumulated cyclone energy
35.0
Identifier
WP151987

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 1, 06:0011.0N 177.0E15 ktTropical storm
Sep 1, 12:0011.0N 175.6E15 ktTropical storm
Sep 1, 18:0011.0N 174.5E15 ktTropical storm
Sep 2, 00:0011.0N 173.7E15 ktTropical storm
Sep 2, 06:0011.0N 173.0E20 ktTropical storm
Sep 2, 12:0011.0N 172.6E20 ktTropical storm
Sep 2, 18:0011.0N 172.2E20 ktTropical storm
Sep 3, 00:0011.0N 171.8E20 ktTropical storm
Sep 3, 06:0011.0N 171.3E20 ktTropical storm
Sep 3, 12:0011.0N 170.9E20 ktTropical storm
Sep 3, 18:0011.1N 170.5E20 ktTropical storm
Sep 4, 00:0011.2N 170.1E25 ktTropical storm
Sep 4, 06:0011.4N 169.7E25 ktTropical storm
Sep 4, 12:0011.7N 169.4E25 ktTropical storm
Sep 4, 18:0011.9N 169.1E25 ktTropical storm
Sep 5, 00:0012.1N 168.7E30 kt1008 mbMixed
Sep 5, 06:0012.2N 168.3E30 kt1006 mbMixed
Sep 5, 12:0012.2N 167.8E35 kt1004 mbTropical storm
Sep 5, 18:0012.3N 167.1E45 kt1000 mbTropical storm
Sep 6, 00:0012.4N 166.2E45 kt996 mbTropical storm
Sep 6, 06:0012.6N 165.5E55 kt994 mbTropical storm
Sep 6, 12:0012.9N 164.6E65 kt990 mbTropical storm
Sep 6, 18:0013.3N 163.7E70 kt985 mbTropical storm
Sep 7, 00:0013.8N 163.0E80 kt975 mbTropical storm
Sep 7, 06:0014.3N 162.2E90 kt955 mbTropical storm
Sep 7, 12:0014.8N 161.4E100 kt940 mbTropical storm
Sep 7, 18:0015.3N 160.7E105 kt930 mbTropical storm
Sep 8, 00:0015.8N 159.9E110 kt920 mbTropical storm
Sep 8, 06:0016.3N 159.2E115 kt910 mbTropical storm
Sep 8, 12:0016.8N 158.4E115 kt905 mbTropical storm
Sep 8, 18:0017.3N 157.6E120 kt900 mbTropical storm
Sep 9, 00:0017.8N 156.8E125 kt900 mbTropical storm
Sep 9, 06:0018.3N 156.2E135 kt900 mbTropical storm
Sep 9, 12:0018.6N 155.9E140 kt900 mbTropical storm
Sep 9, 18:0018.9N 155.8E140 kt900 mbTropical storm
Sep 10, 00:0019.4N 155.6E135 kt900 mbTropical storm
Sep 10, 06:0019.9N 155.5E130 kt910 mbTropical storm
Sep 10, 12:0020.5N 155.5E125 kt915 mbTropical storm
Sep 10, 18:0021.2N 155.6E125 kt920 mbTropical storm
Sep 11, 00:0022.0N 155.8E120 kt925 mbTropical storm
Sep 11, 06:0023.1N 156.0E115 kt925 mbTropical storm
Sep 11, 12:0024.0N 156.0E110 kt930 mbTropical storm
Sep 11, 18:0024.8N 155.7E100 kt930 mbTropical storm
Sep 12, 00:0025.6N 155.3E90 kt935 mbTropical storm
Sep 12, 06:0026.0N 155.2E80 kt940 mbTropical storm
Sep 12, 12:0026.4N 155.2E70 kt950 mbTropical storm
Sep 12, 18:0026.7N 155.4E65 kt955 mbTropical storm
Sep 13, 00:0026.9N 155.6E65 kt960 mbTropical storm
Sep 13, 06:0027.2N 156.0E65 kt960 mbTropical storm
Sep 13, 12:0027.4N 156.5E55 kt960 mbTropical storm
Sep 13, 18:0027.7N 157.1E50 kt960 mbTropical storm
Sep 14, 00:0028.0N 157.5E45 kt965 mbTropical storm
Sep 14, 06:0028.3N 157.9E45 kt970 mbTropical storm
Sep 14, 12:0028.6N 158.2E35 kt970 mbTropical storm
Sep 14, 18:0028.9N 158.3E30 kt975 mbTropical storm
Sep 15, 00:0029.2N 158.5E30 kt975 mbTropical storm
Sep 15, 06:0029.5N 158.5E30 kt980 mbTropical storm
Sep 15, 12:0029.8N 158.6E30 kt985 mbTropical storm
Sep 15, 18:0030.0N 158.7E25 kt985 mbTropical storm
Sep 16, 00:0030.2N 158.3E45 kt990 mbTropical storm
Sep 16, 06:0030.4N 158.2E45 kt990 mbTropical storm
Sep 16, 12:0030.8N 158.2E45 kt990 mbTropical storm
Sep 16, 18:0031.4N 158.6E45 kt990 mbTropical storm
Sep 17, 00:0032.3N 159.3E40 kt992 mbTropical storm
Sep 17, 06:0033.3N 159.8E40 kt992 mbTropical storm
Sep 17, 12:0034.7N 160.0E35 kt992 mbTropical storm
Sep 17, 18:0036.5N 160.2E994 mbMixed
Sep 18, 00:0038.5N 160.9E994 mbMixed
Sep 18, 06:0041.0N 161.8E996 mbMixed

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.