The 1987 season

Cyclone Yali (1987)

Cyclone Yali reached Category 1 in the South Pacific between March 5, 1987 and March 12, 1987, with a lowest pressure of 970 mb.

Track and intensity

The whole track of Cyclone Yali, 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.

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The storm

Basin
South Pacific
Dates
March 5, 1987 to March 12, 1987
Peak strength
Category 1, 65 kt (75 mph)
Lowest pressure
970 mb (28.64 inHg)
Landfall
No; closest approach 91 km (57 mi)
Accumulated cyclone energy
3.9
Identifier
SH221987

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
Mar 5, 12:0010.9S 164.0E25 ktTropical storm
Mar 5, 18:0011.3S 164.4E25 ktTropical storm
Mar 6, 00:0011.7S 164.8E25 ktTropical storm
Mar 6, 06:0012.3S 165.0E25 ktTropical storm
Mar 6, 12:0012.7S 165.1E25 ktTropical storm
Mar 6, 18:0013.2S 165.1E25 ktTropical storm
Mar 7, 00:0013.6S 165.0E25 ktTropical storm
Mar 7, 06:0013.9S 164.9E25 ktTropical storm
Mar 7, 12:0014.3S 164.8E25 kt997 mbTropical storm
Mar 7, 18:0014.8S 164.7E25 kt997 mbTropical storm
Mar 8, 00:0015.3S 164.5E30 kt997 mbTropical storm
Mar 8, 06:0015.7S 164.2E30 kt997 mbTropical storm
Mar 8, 12:0016.1S 164.0E35 kt995 mbTropical storm
Mar 8, 18:0016.6S 163.9E40 kt987 mbTropical storm
Mar 9, 00:0017.0S 163.8E50 kt980 mbTropical storm
Mar 9, 06:0017.3S 163.7E65 kt970 mbTropical storm
Mar 9, 12:0017.6S 163.6E65 kt970 mbTropical storm
Mar 9, 18:0017.9S 163.6E65 kt975 mbTropical storm
Mar 10, 00:0018.0S 163.7E65 kt985 mbTropical storm
Mar 10, 06:0018.2S 163.7E65 kt987 mbTropical storm
Mar 10, 12:0018.4S 163.9E60 kt990 mbTropical storm
Mar 10, 18:0018.8S 164.3E55 kt997 mbTropical storm
Mar 11, 00:0019.2S 164.5E45 kt997 mbTropical storm
Mar 11, 06:0019.5S 165.0E40 ktTropical storm
Mar 11, 12:0020.0S 165.7E35 ktTropical storm
Mar 11, 18:0020.2S 167.2E35 ktTropical storm
Mar 12, 00:0020.0S 169.5E30 ktTropical storm

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.