The 1987 season

Unnamed tropical storm (1987)

Unnamed tropical storm peaked at 35 kt in the North Indian between December 17, 1987 and December 23, 1987, and made landfall.

Radar

Reflectivity now over Unnamed tropical storm. 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
North Indian
Dates
December 17, 1987 to December 23, 1987
Peak strength
Tropical Storm, 35 kt (40 mph)
Landfall
Yes
Accumulated cyclone energy
0.4
Identifier
IO081987

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 17, 00:009.0N 86.4E20 ktTropical storm
Dec 17, 06:009.8N 85.2E20 ktTropical storm
Dec 17, 12:0010.4N 84.0E25 ktTropical storm
Dec 17, 18:0010.7N 83.3E25 ktTropical storm
Dec 18, 00:0010.7N 82.6E30 ktTropical storm
Dec 18, 06:0010.5N 82.2E30 ktTropical storm
Dec 18, 12:0010.4N 81.8E30 ktTropical storm
Dec 18, 18:0010.3N 81.4E30 ktTropical storm
Dec 19, 00:0010.5N 81.1E25 ktTropical storm
Dec 19, 06:0010.7N 81.4E25 ktTropical storm
Dec 19, 12:0011.0N 81.7E25 ktTropical storm
Dec 19, 18:0011.2N 82.1E25 ktTropical storm
Dec 20, 00:0011.4N 82.6E30 ktTropical storm
Dec 20, 06:0011.7N 83.3E30 ktTropical storm
Dec 20, 12:0011.9N 83.8E35 ktTropical storm
Dec 20, 18:0012.2N 84.3E35 ktTropical storm
Dec 21, 00:0012.3N 84.7E35 ktTropical storm
Dec 21, 06:0011.8N 84.8E30 ktTropical storm
Dec 21, 12:0011.6N 84.4E25 ktTropical storm
Dec 21, 18:0011.2N 83.8E25 ktTropical storm
Dec 22, 00:0010.7N 83.3E20 ktTropical storm
Dec 22, 06:0010.3N 82.7E20 ktTropical storm
Dec 22, 12:0010.0N 81.8E20 ktTropical storm
Dec 22, 18:0010.0N 80.9E20 ktTropical storm
Dec 23, 00:0010.3N 80.0E20 ktTropical storm
Dec 23, 06:0010.5N 79.2E15 ktTropical storm

Other North Indian 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.