The 1987 season

Tropical Storm Zuman (1987)

Tropical Storm Zuman peaked at 55 kt in the South Pacific between April 19, 1987 and April 26, 1987, with a lowest pressure of 975 mb.

Radar

Reflectivity now over Tropical Storm Zuman. 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 Pacific
Dates
April 19, 1987 to April 26, 1987
Peak strength
Tropical Storm, 55 kt (63 mph)
Lowest pressure
975 mb (28.79 inHg)
Landfall
No; closest approach 261 km (162 mi)
Accumulated cyclone energy
2.4
Identifier
SH251987

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
Apr 19, 18:009.5S 179.1E25 ktTropical storm
Apr 20, 00:009.6S 179.9W25 ktTropical storm
Apr 20, 06:009.4S 178.9W25 ktTropical storm
Apr 20, 12:009.7S 178.0W25 ktTropical storm
Apr 20, 18:0010.7S 178.2W30 ktTropical storm
Apr 21, 00:0011.2S 177.4W30 ktTropical storm
Apr 21, 06:0011.2S 176.4W30 ktTropical storm
Apr 21, 12:0011.0S 175.4W30 ktTropical storm
Apr 21, 18:0010.7S 174.5W30 ktTropical storm
Apr 22, 00:0010.4S 173.5W30 kt997 mbTropical storm
Apr 22, 06:0010.4S 172.5W30 kt997 mbTropical storm
Apr 22, 12:0010.7S 171.6W30 kt995 mbTropical storm
Apr 22, 18:0011.2S 170.9W30 kt990 mbTropical storm
Apr 23, 00:0011.9S 170.4W35 kt987 mbTropical storm
Apr 23, 06:0012.8S 169.9W40 kt985 mbTropical storm
Apr 23, 12:0013.6S 169.5W45 kt980 mbTropical storm
Apr 23, 18:0014.4S 169.1W50 kt975 mbTropical storm
Apr 24, 00:0015.3S 168.7W55 kt975 mbTropical storm
Apr 24, 06:0016.1S 168.3W55 kt975 mbTropical storm
Apr 24, 12:0017.0S 167.9W50 kt980 mbTropical storm
Apr 24, 18:0018.0S 167.4W50 kt980 mbTropical storm
Apr 25, 00:0019.0S 166.9W45 kt985 mbTropical storm
Apr 25, 06:0020.2S 166.0W40 kt985 mbTropical storm
Apr 25, 12:0021.5S 164.7W35 kt987 mbTropical storm
Apr 25, 18:0022.8S 163.1W35 kt995 mbTropical storm
Apr 26, 00:0024.0S 161.4W30 kt997 mbTropical storm
Apr 26, 06:0025.0S 159.6W30 ktTropical storm
Apr 26, 12:0026.2S 157.8W25 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.