The 1987 season

Unnamed tropical storm (1987)

Unnamed tropical storm peaked at 45 kt in the South Indian between January 6, 1987 and January 12, 1987.

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
South Indian
Dates
January 6, 1987 to January 12, 1987
Peak strength
Tropical Storm, 45 kt (52 mph)
Landfall
No; closest approach 1399 km (869 mi)
Accumulated cyclone energy
3.3
Identifier
SH061987

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
Jan 6, 06:005.7S 75.9E25 ktTropical storm
Jan 6, 12:006.0S 76.0E30 ktTropical storm
Jan 6, 18:006.3S 76.1E30 ktTropical storm
Jan 7, 00:006.5S 76.3E30 ktTropical storm
Jan 7, 06:006.8S 76.4E35 ktTropical storm
Jan 7, 12:007.1S 76.6E35 ktTropical storm
Jan 7, 18:007.5S 76.6E35 ktTropical storm
Jan 8, 00:008.0S 76.5E35 ktTropical storm
Jan 8, 06:008.7S 77.0E35 ktTropical storm
Jan 8, 12:009.4S 77.9E35 ktTropical storm
Jan 8, 18:0010.1S 78.7E35 ktTropical storm
Jan 9, 00:0010.9S 79.1E35 ktTropical storm
Jan 9, 06:0011.2S 79.4E35 ktTropical storm
Jan 9, 12:0011.2S 79.7E35 ktTropical storm
Jan 9, 18:0011.1S 79.7E35 ktTropical storm
Jan 10, 00:0011.2S 79.8E35 ktTropical storm
Jan 10, 06:0011.3S 79.9E35 ktTropical storm
Jan 10, 12:0011.3S 80.1E40 ktTropical storm
Jan 10, 18:0011.3S 80.1E45 ktTropical storm
Jan 11, 00:0011.4S 79.6E45 ktTropical storm
Jan 11, 06:0011.4S 79.2E45 ktTropical storm
Jan 11, 12:0011.3S 79.1E45 ktTropical storm
Jan 11, 18:0011.2S 79.3E45 ktTropical storm
Jan 12, 00:0011.2S 79.3E45 ktTropical storm
Jan 12, 06:0011.3S 79.1E45 ktTropical storm
Jan 12, 12:0011.3S 79.0E35 ktTropical storm

Other South 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.