The 1987 season

Tropical Storm Patsy (1987)

Tropical Storm Patsy peaked at 55 kt in the South Pacific between December 12, 1986 and December 22, 1986, with a lowest pressure of 975 mb, and made landfall.

Track and intensity

The whole track of Tropical Storm Patsy, 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
December 12, 1986 to December 22, 1986
Peak strength
Tropical Storm, 55 kt (63 mph)
Lowest pressure
975 mb (28.79 inHg)
Landfall
Yes
Accumulated cyclone energy
3.7
Identifier
SH031987

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
Dec 12, 06:0012.4S 172.9E25 ktTropical storm
Dec 12, 12:0012.3S 172.8E30 ktTropical storm
Dec 12, 18:0011.9S 172.4E30 kt997 mbTropical storm
Dec 13, 00:0011.5S 171.5E30 kt997 mbTropical storm
Dec 13, 06:0011.6S 170.4E30 kt997 mbTropical storm
Dec 13, 12:0011.8S 169.6E30 kt995 mbTropical storm
Dec 13, 18:0012.1S 169.0E30 kt990 mbTropical storm
Dec 14, 00:0012.3S 168.7E30 kt990 mbTropical storm
Dec 14, 06:0012.4S 168.4E30 kt987 mbTropical storm
Dec 14, 12:0012.6S 168.2E30 kt985 mbTropical storm
Dec 14, 18:0013.0S 168.0E35 kt980 mbTropical storm
Dec 15, 00:0013.5S 167.8E40 kt975 mbTropical storm
Dec 15, 06:0014.2S 167.4E50 kt975 mbTropical storm
Dec 15, 12:0015.0S 166.8E50 kt975 mbTropical storm
Dec 15, 18:0016.0S 166.3E55 kt975 mbTropical storm
Dec 16, 00:0017.1S 166.0E50 kt980 mbTropical storm
Dec 16, 06:0018.1S 166.0E50 kt980 mbTropical storm
Dec 16, 12:0018.9S 166.1E45 kt985 mbTropical storm
Dec 16, 18:0019.7S 166.4E45 kt990 mbTropical storm
Dec 17, 00:0020.8S 166.8E40 kt995 mbTropical storm
Dec 17, 06:0022.0S 167.5E35 kt997 mbTropical storm
Dec 17, 12:0023.0S 168.9E35 kt997 mbTropical storm
Dec 17, 18:0022.0S 166.3E30 kt997 mbNot reported
Dec 18, 00:0022.3S 166.1E30 kt997 mbNot reported
Dec 18, 06:0022.6S 165.5E30 kt997 mbNot reported
Dec 18, 12:0022.8S 164.0E40 kt990 mbNot reported
Dec 18, 18:0022.2S 164.3E40 kt990 mbNot reported
Dec 19, 00:0022.5S 164.8E40 kt990 mbNot reported
Dec 19, 06:0023.8S 165.2ENot reported
Dec 19, 12:0025.8S 165.6E40 kt990 mbNot reported
Dec 19, 18:0027.6S 166.3ENot reported
Dec 20, 00:0029.5S 167.0E40 kt990 mbNot reported
Dec 20, 06:0031.1S 167.7ENot reported
Dec 20, 12:0032.5S 168.3ENot reported
Dec 20, 18:0034.1S 169.0ENot reported
Dec 21, 00:0035.9S 169.8E40 kt990 mbNot reported
Dec 21, 06:0038.2S 170.4ENot reported
Dec 21, 12:0040.5S 171.7E40 kt990 mbNot reported
Dec 21, 18:0042.6S 174.2ENot reported
Dec 22, 00:0044.5S 177.7E40 kt990 mbNot reported

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.