The 1987 season

Super Typhoon Thelma (1987)

Super Typhoon Thelma reached Category 4 in the Western Pacific between July 6, 1987 and July 18, 1987, with a lowest pressure of 915 mb, and made landfall.

Radar

Reflectivity now over Super Typhoon Thelma. 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
July 6, 1987 to July 18, 1987
Peak strength
Category 4, 130 kt (150 mph)
Lowest pressure
915 mb (27.02 inHg)
Landfall
Yes
Accumulated cyclone energy
24.8
Fastest the center moved
31 kt (36 mph)
Identifier
WP051987

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
Jul 6, 12:009.6N 150.9E20 ktTropical storm
Jul 6, 18:0010.2N 150.3E20 ktTropical storm
Jul 7, 00:0010.8N 150.0E25 kt1004 mbTropical storm
Jul 7, 06:0011.5N 149.8E25 kt1004 mbMixed
Jul 7, 12:0012.1N 149.6E25 kt1004 mbMixed
Jul 7, 18:0013.0N 149.5E30 kt1002 mbTropical storm
Jul 8, 00:0013.9N 148.9E30 kt1002 mbTropical storm
Jul 8, 06:0014.5N 147.4E30 kt1002 mbTropical storm
Jul 8, 12:0014.6N 145.5E35 kt1002 mbTropical storm
Jul 8, 18:0015.0N 143.8E40 kt1000 mbTropical storm
Jul 9, 00:0015.6N 142.3E45 kt1000 mbTropical storm
Jul 9, 06:0016.2N 141.0E50 kt990 mbTropical storm
Jul 9, 12:0016.5N 139.7E60 kt985 mbTropical storm
Jul 9, 18:0016.7N 138.3E70 kt980 mbTropical storm
Jul 10, 00:0017.0N 136.9E80 kt975 mbTropical storm
Jul 10, 06:0017.3N 135.4E85 kt970 mbTropical storm
Jul 10, 12:0017.7N 134.0E90 kt960 mbTropical storm
Jul 10, 18:0017.8N 132.5E100 kt945 mbTropical storm
Jul 11, 00:0017.9N 131.2E110 kt930 mbTropical storm
Jul 11, 06:0017.9N 129.9E120 kt915 mbTropical storm
Jul 11, 12:0017.8N 128.8E130 kt915 mbTropical storm
Jul 11, 18:0017.6N 128.0E125 kt920 mbTropical storm
Jul 12, 00:0017.6N 127.3E120 kt920 mbTropical storm
Jul 12, 06:0017.9N 126.8E120 kt925 mbTropical storm
Jul 12, 12:0018.5N 126.6E115 kt935 mbTropical storm
Jul 12, 18:0019.2N 126.4E105 kt945 mbTropical storm
Jul 13, 00:0019.9N 126.2E95 kt950 mbTropical storm
Jul 13, 06:0020.9N 126.0E90 kt950 mbTropical storm
Jul 13, 12:0022.1N 125.6E90 kt940 mbTropical storm
Jul 13, 18:0023.4N 125.3E90 kt945 mbTropical storm
Jul 14, 00:0024.7N 125.2E90 kt950 mbTropical storm
Jul 14, 06:0025.9N 124.9E90 kt945 mbTropical storm
Jul 14, 12:0027.4N 124.8E90 kt940 mbTropical storm
Jul 14, 18:0028.6N 125.0E85 kt945 mbTropical storm
Jul 15, 00:0029.9N 125.5E80 kt950 mbTropical storm
Jul 15, 06:0031.9N 126.3E80 kt955 mbTropical storm
Jul 15, 12:0034.4N 127.2E70 kt965 mbTropical storm
Jul 15, 18:0036.8N 128.2E55 kt975 mbTropical storm
Jul 16, 00:0039.0N 129.4E40 kt980 mbTropical storm
Jul 16, 06:0040.9N 130.6E35 kt980 mbMixed
Jul 16, 12:0042.7N 131.7E30 kt988 mbMixed
Jul 16, 18:0044.7N 132.0E990 mbExtratropical
Jul 17, 00:0045.9N 132.5E992 mbExtratropical
Jul 17, 06:0046.7N 133.0E992 mbExtratropical
Jul 17, 12:0047.8N 133.7E994 mbExtratropical
Jul 17, 18:0048.8N 134.1E996 mbExtratropical
Jul 18, 00:0049.7N 135.0E998 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.