The 1987 season

Cyclone Jason (1987)

Cyclone Jason reached Category 1 in the South Pacific between February 4, 1987 and February 14, 1987, with a lowest pressure of 970 mb, and made landfall.

Track and intensity

The whole track of Cyclone Jason, 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
South Pacific
Dates
February 4, 1987 to February 14, 1987
Peak strength
Category 1, 75 kt (86 mph)
Lowest pressure
970 mb (28.64 inHg)
Landfall
Yes
Accumulated cyclone energy
7.1
Identifier
SH151987

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
Feb 4, 18:0012.2S 139.8E25 ktTropical storm
Feb 5, 00:0012.0S 140.2E25 ktTropical storm
Feb 5, 06:0012.0S 140.6E25 ktTropical storm
Feb 5, 12:0011.9S 140.9E25 ktTropical storm
Feb 5, 18:0011.9S 141.2E25 kt1002 mbTropical storm
Feb 6, 00:0011.9S 141.6E25 kt1001 mbTropical storm
Feb 6, 06:0012.1S 142.0E25 kt999 mbTropical storm
Feb 6, 12:0012.5S 142.0E25 kt999 mbTropical storm
Feb 6, 18:0012.9S 141.4E25 kt997 mbTropical storm
Feb 7, 00:0013.2S 140.7E40 kt991 mbTropical storm
Feb 7, 06:0013.2S 140.3E30 kt987 mbTropical storm
Feb 7, 12:0013.2S 139.9E35 kt985 mbTropical storm
Feb 7, 18:0013.2S 139.5E35 kt983 mbTropical storm
Feb 8, 00:0013.2S 139.1E40 kt982 mbTropical storm
Feb 8, 06:0013.2S 138.6E40 kt980 mbTropical storm
Feb 8, 12:0013.2S 138.1E45 kt975 mbTropical storm
Feb 8, 18:0013.2S 137.5E50 kt975 mbTropical storm
Feb 9, 00:0013.2S 137.1E55 kt977 mbTropical storm
Feb 9, 06:0013.1S 136.8E55 kt980 mbTropical storm
Feb 9, 12:0013.0S 136.5E55 kt984 mbTropical storm
Feb 9, 18:0012.9S 136.3E55 kt985 mbTropical storm
Feb 10, 00:0012.8S 136.1E60 kt990 mbTropical storm
Feb 10, 06:0012.6S 136.0E60 kt990 mbTropical storm
Feb 10, 12:0012.4S 135.8E60 kt992 mbTropical storm
Feb 10, 18:0012.3S 135.5E60 kt992 mbTropical storm
Feb 11, 00:0012.4S 135.2E65 kt992 mbTropical storm
Feb 11, 06:0013.0S 135.4E65 kt990 mbTropical storm
Feb 11, 12:0013.5S 136.2E65 kt990 mbTropical storm
Feb 11, 18:0013.9S 137.0E60 kt990 mbTropical storm
Feb 12, 00:0014.5S 137.7E55 kt980 mbTropical storm
Feb 12, 06:0014.9S 138.4E50 kt970 mbTropical storm
Feb 12, 12:0015.1S 139.2E45 kt970 mbTropical storm
Feb 12, 18:0015.7S 140.0E40 kt970 mbTropical storm
Feb 13, 00:0016.8S 140.4E35 kt970 mbTropical storm
Feb 13, 06:0017.9S 140.0E70 kt980 mbTropical storm
Feb 13, 12:0019.2S 139.7E40 kt996 mbMixed
Feb 13, 18:0020.1S 139.5E30 kt998 mbMixed
Feb 14, 00:0021.1S 139.4E25 kt1001 mbMixed

Other South 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.