The 1988 season

Cyclone Anne (1988)

Cyclone Anne reached Category 5 in the South Pacific between January 5, 1988 and January 14, 1988, with a lowest pressure of 925 mb, and made landfall.

Track and intensity

The whole track of Cyclone Anne, colored by strength, with the other storms of the 1988 season in the same basin behind it, and its wind and pressure hour by hour. Every fix is in the track table below.

Open the live map with storms, cones and warnings

The storm

Basin
South Pacific
Dates
January 5, 1988 to January 14, 1988
Peak strength
Category 5, 140 kt (161 mph)
Lowest pressure
925 mb (27.32 inHg)
Landfall
Yes
Accumulated cyclone energy
18.9
Fastest the center moved
14 kt (16 mph)
Identifier
SH071988

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 5, 12:004.9S 182.4E30 kt997 mbNot reported
Jan 5, 18:005.1S 181.8E30 kt997 mbNot reported
Jan 6, 00:003.6S 178.5W25 kt997 mbTropical storm
Jan 6, 06:003.7S 178.8W25 kt997 mbTropical storm
Jan 6, 12:003.8S 179.1W25 kt997 mbTropical storm
Jan 6, 18:004.2S 179.9E25 kt997 mbTropical storm
Jan 7, 00:004.6S 179.2E25 kt997 mbTropical storm
Jan 7, 06:005.2S 178.5E30 kt995 mbTropical storm
Jan 7, 12:005.8S 177.8E35 kt990 mbTropical storm
Jan 7, 18:006.3S 177.0E35 kt990 mbTropical storm
Jan 8, 00:006.8S 176.0E35 kt987 mbTropical storm
Jan 8, 06:007.2S 174.9E40 kt985 mbTropical storm
Jan 8, 12:007.7S 174.2E45 kt985 mbTropical storm
Jan 8, 18:008.3S 173.5E45 kt980 mbTropical storm
Jan 9, 00:009.0S 172.9E50 kt980 mbTropical storm
Jan 9, 06:009.7S 172.0E55 kt980 mbTropical storm
Jan 9, 12:0010.0S 171.1E65 kt975 mbTropical storm
Jan 9, 18:0010.5S 170.1E75 kt965 mbTropical storm
Jan 10, 00:0011.4S 169.1E90 kt960 mbTropical storm
Jan 10, 06:0012.1S 168.2E100 kt955 mbTropical storm
Jan 10, 12:0013.0S 167.1E115 kt940 mbTropical storm
Jan 10, 18:0013.9S 166.0E130 kt930 mbTropical storm
Jan 11, 00:0015.0S 165.4E140 kt925 mbTropical storm
Jan 11, 06:0015.9S 164.8E135 kt930 mbTropical storm
Jan 11, 12:0016.8S 164.3E130 kt940 mbTropical storm
Jan 11, 18:0017.6S 164.2E125 kt945 mbTropical storm
Jan 12, 00:0018.5S 164.3E115 kt955 mbTropical storm
Jan 12, 06:0019.4S 164.6E100 kt960 mbTropical storm
Jan 12, 12:0020.1S 165.2E85 kt965 mbTropical storm
Jan 12, 18:0020.8S 165.5E75 kt975 mbTropical storm
Jan 13, 00:0021.7S 165.8E60 kt985 mbTropical storm
Jan 13, 06:0022.7S 166.5E50 kt987 mbTropical storm
Jan 13, 12:0023.4S 167.2E45 kt987 mbTropical storm
Jan 13, 18:0024.4S 168.4E40 kt990 mbTropical storm
Jan 14, 00:0025.2S 170.1E30 kt990 mbTropical storm

Other South Pacific storms of 1988

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.