The 1988 season

Tropical Storm Cilla (1988)

Tropical Storm Cilla peaked at 55 kt in the South Pacific between February 26, 1988 and March 8, 1988, with a lowest pressure of 970 mb.

Track and intensity

The whole track of Tropical Storm Cilla, 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 26, 1988 to March 8, 1988
Peak strength
Tropical Storm, 55 kt (63 mph)
Lowest pressure
970 mb (28.64 inHg)
Landfall
No; closest approach 1209 km (751 mi)
Accumulated cyclone energy
2.3
Identifier
SH151988

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 26, 18:0018.5S 162.0W30 kt997 mbNot reported
Feb 27, 00:0018.2S 161.7W30 kt997 mbNot reported
Feb 27, 06:0018.0S 161.3W30 kt997 mbNot reported
Feb 27, 12:0017.5S 161.0W30 kt997 mbNot reported
Feb 27, 18:0017.0S 160.4W30 kt997 mbNot reported
Feb 28, 00:0016.7S 159.7W30 kt997 mbNot reported
Feb 28, 06:0016.5S 160.0W30 kt997 mbNot reported
Feb 28, 12:0017.0S 160.0W30 kt997 mbNot reported
Feb 28, 18:0016.9S 158.8W25 kt997 mbTropical storm
Feb 29, 00:0018.1S 158.9W30 kt995 mbTropical storm
Feb 29, 06:0019.2S 158.9W30 kt990 mbTropical storm
Feb 29, 12:0019.9S 157.5W30 kt985 mbTropical storm
Feb 29, 18:0020.5S 155.8W35 kt980 mbTropical storm
Mar 1, 00:0021.5S 154.3W35 kt975 mbTropical storm
Mar 1, 06:0022.7S 152.7W40 kt970 mbTropical storm
Mar 1, 12:0023.9S 151.2W40 kt970 mbTropical storm
Mar 1, 18:0025.4S 149.7W45 kt975 mbTropical storm
Mar 2, 00:0026.9S 148.4W45 kt980 mbTropical storm
Mar 2, 06:0028.1S 147.1W35 kt980 mbTropical storm
Mar 2, 12:0029.8S 147.2W30 kt980 mbTropical storm
Mar 2, 18:0031.2S 147.9W25 kt980 mbTropical storm
Mar 3, 00:0032.6S 149.0W25 kt980 mbTropical storm
Mar 3, 06:0034.2S 150.3W25 kt980 mbTropical storm
Mar 3, 12:0037.0S 150.0W55 kt980 mbNot reported
Mar 3, 18:0036.8S 153.0W50 kt985 mbNot reported
Mar 4, 00:0035.0S 155.0W45 kt987 mbNot reported
Mar 4, 06:0033.0S 155.0W40 kt990 mbNot reported
Mar 4, 12:0031.7S 155.3W40 kt990 mbNot reported
Mar 4, 18:0031.0S 156.0W35 kt995 mbNot reported
Mar 5, 00:0030.8S 155.8W30 kt997 mbNot reported
Mar 5, 06:0030.7S 155.7WNot reported
Mar 5, 12:0030.7S 155.6WNot reported
Mar 5, 18:0030.7S 155.5WNot reported
Mar 6, 00:0030.8S 155.5W30 kt997 mbNot reported
Mar 6, 06:0030.8S 155.4WNot reported
Mar 6, 12:0030.7S 155.3WNot reported
Mar 6, 18:0030.7S 155.2WNot reported
Mar 7, 00:0030.8S 155.1W30 kt997 mbNot reported
Mar 7, 06:0030.9S 155.0WNot reported
Mar 7, 12:0031.1S 154.8W30 kt997 mbNot reported
Mar 7, 18:0031.4S 154.6WNot reported
Mar 8, 00:0031.7S 154.4W30 kt997 mbNot reported

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.