The 1988 season

Tropical Storm Charlie (1988)

Tropical Storm Charlie peaked at 50 kt in the South Pacific between February 19, 1988 and March 1, 1988, with a lowest pressure of 972 mb, and made landfall.

Track and intensity

The whole track of Tropical Storm Charlie, 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.

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The storm

Basin
South Pacific
Dates
February 19, 1988 to March 1, 1988
Peak strength
Tropical Storm, 50 kt (58 mph)
Lowest pressure
972 mb (28.70 inHg)
Landfall
Yes
Accumulated cyclone energy
3.1
Identifier
SH121988

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
Feb 19, 00:0012.7S 154.5ENot reported
Feb 19, 06:0012.7S 155.6ENot reported
Feb 19, 12:0012.7S 156.3ENot reported
Feb 19, 18:0012.8S 157.1ENot reported
Feb 20, 00:0012.8S 157.9ENot reported
Feb 20, 06:0014.8S 157.8E25 ktTropical storm
Feb 20, 12:0014.6S 158.4E25 ktTropical storm
Feb 20, 18:0014.1S 158.7E30 ktTropical storm
Feb 21, 00:0013.7S 158.4E35 kt997 mbTropical storm
Feb 21, 06:0013.9S 158.0E35 kt997 mbTropical storm
Feb 21, 12:0014.1S 157.6E35 kt998 mbTropical storm
Feb 21, 18:0014.3S 157.4E35 kt995 mbTropical storm
Feb 22, 00:0014.4S 157.1E35 kt995 mbTropical storm
Feb 22, 06:0014.6S 156.8E40 kt995 mbTropical storm
Feb 22, 12:0014.6S 156.4E40 kt993 mbTropical storm
Feb 22, 18:0014.6S 156.0E40 kt992 mbTropical storm
Feb 23, 00:0014.6S 155.6E45 kt990 mbTropical storm
Feb 23, 06:0014.6S 155.2E45 kt989 mbTropical storm
Feb 23, 12:0014.6S 154.8E45 kt988 mbTropical storm
Feb 23, 18:0014.8S 154.5E45 kt986 mbTropical storm
Feb 24, 00:0015.1S 154.5E45 kt985 mbTropical storm
Feb 24, 06:0015.5S 154.6E40 kt987 mbTropical storm
Feb 24, 12:0016.0S 154.9E35 kt992 mbTropical storm
Feb 24, 18:0016.6S 155.0E30 kt993 mbTropical storm
Feb 25, 00:0017.2S 154.7E25 kt993 mbTropical storm
Feb 25, 06:0017.4S 154.3E25 kt995 mbTropical storm
Feb 25, 12:0017.5S 154.0E30 kt996 mbTropical storm
Feb 25, 18:0017.6S 153.6E30 kt996 mbTropical storm
Feb 26, 00:0017.8S 152.9E30 kt995 mbTropical storm
Feb 26, 06:0018.0S 151.8E30 kt992 mbTropical storm
Feb 26, 12:0017.9S 150.6E30 kt995 mbTropical storm
Feb 26, 18:0017.0S 150.7E30 kt995 mbTropical storm
Feb 27, 00:0017.2S 151.5E30 kt996 mbTropical storm
Feb 27, 06:0017.9S 151.8E30 kt994 mbTropical storm
Feb 27, 12:0018.4S 150.7E30 kt992 mbTropical storm
Feb 27, 18:0019.2S 149.9E30 kt990 mbTropical storm
Feb 28, 00:0019.2S 149.0E30 kt990 mbTropical storm
Feb 28, 06:0019.0S 148.3E35 kt985 mbTropical storm
Feb 28, 12:0018.9S 147.9E35 kt985 mbTropical storm
Feb 28, 18:0018.9S 147.7E35 kt985 mbTropical storm
Feb 29, 00:0019.0S 147.4E35 kt985 mbTropical storm
Feb 29, 06:0019.3S 147.2E30 kt982 mbTropical storm
Feb 29, 12:0019.6S 147.5E25 kt972 mbTropical storm
Feb 29, 18:0019.9S 147.8E25 kt980 mbTropical storm
Mar 1, 00:0020.3S 147.9E50 kt993 mbTropical storm
Mar 1, 06:0020.8S 147.7E30 kt996 mbTropical storm
Mar 1, 12:0020.9S 147.5E20 kt999 mbTropical storm
Mar 1, 18:0020.9S 147.5E20 kt1000 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.