The 1988 season

Hurricane Debby (1988)

Hurricane Debby reached Category 1 in the North Atlantic between August 31, 1988 and September 8, 1988, with a lowest pressure of 987 mb, and made landfall.

Track and intensity

The whole track of Hurricane Debby, 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
North Atlantic
Dates
August 31, 1988 to September 8, 1988
Peak strength
Category 1, 65 kt (75 mph)
Lowest pressure
987 mb (29.15 inHg)
Landfall
Yes
Accumulated cyclone energy
1.6
Fastest the center moved
9 kt (10 mph)
Identifier
AL041988

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.

Landfall

Time (UTC)WherePositionWindPressure
Sep 3, 00:00Poza Rica de Hidalgo, Veracruz, Mexico, 25 km away20.7N 97.3W65 kt (75 mph)987 mb

Landfall points the US agencies flagged in the best track. The nearest town is named from the site’s gazetteer, not from the report.

Track

Time (UTC)PositionWindPressureStatus
Aug 31, 18:0020.1N 91.0W25 kt1006 mbTropical depression
Sep 1, 00:0020.2N 91.7W25 kt1005 mbTropical depression
Sep 1, 06:0020.3N 92.4W25 kt1005 mbTropical depression
Sep 1, 12:0020.4N 93.1W25 kt1004 mbTropical depression
Sep 1, 18:0020.5N 93.8W30 kt1003 mbTropical depression
Sep 2, 00:0020.6N 94.5W30 kt1003 mbTropical depression
Sep 2, 06:0020.7N 95.2W40 kt1001 mbTropical storm
Sep 2, 12:0020.8N 95.9W50 kt998 mbTropical storm
Sep 2, 18:0020.8N 96.6W65 kt992 mbHurricane
Sep 3, 00:00 landfall20.7N 97.3W65 kt987 mbHurricane
Sep 3, 06:0020.5N 98.1W50 kt995 mbTropical storm
Sep 3, 12:0020.3N 98.9W35 kt998 mbTropical storm
Sep 3, 18:0020.0N 99.8W30 kt999 mbTropical depression
Sep 4, 00:0019.8N 100.7W30 kt1000 mbTropical depression
Sep 4, 06:0019.6N 101.6W30 kt1000 mbTropical depression
Sep 4, 12:0019.5N 102.5W30 kt1000 mbTropical depression
Sep 4, 18:0019.4N 103.4W30 kt1001 mbTropical depression
Sep 5, 00:0019.5N 104.3W30 kt1001 mbTropical depression
Sep 5, 06:0019.6N 105.1W30 kt1002 mbTropical depression
Sep 5, 12:0019.9N 105.9W30 kt1003 mbTropical depression
Sep 5, 18:0020.5N 106.4W30 kt1004 mbTropical depression
Sep 6, 00:0021.0N 106.8W30 kt1004 mbTropical depression
Sep 6, 06:0021.5N 107.1W30 kt1005 mbTropical depression
Sep 6, 12:0022.0N 107.4W25 kt1005 mbTropical depression
Sep 6, 18:0022.5N 107.7W25 kt1006 mbTropical depression
Sep 7, 00:0023.0N 108.0W25 kt1006 mbTropical depression
Sep 7, 06:0023.5N 108.3W25 kt1007 mbTropical depression
Sep 7, 12:0023.9N 108.5W25 kt1007 mbTropical depression
Sep 7, 18:0024.2N 108.7W25 kt1007 mbTropical depression
Sep 8, 00:0024.4N 108.9W25 kt1008 mbTropical depression
Sep 8, 06:0024.3N 109.1W20 kt1008 mbTropical depression
Sep 8, 12:0024.2N 109.3W20 kt1008 mbTropical depression
Sep 8, 18:0024.0N 109.0W20 kt1008 mbTropical depression

Other North Atlantic 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.

The National Hurricane Center has published no tropical cyclone report for this storm.