The 1988 season

Tropical Storm Elsie (1988)

Tropical Storm Elsie peaked at 45 kt in the Western Pacific between August 24, 1988 and September 2, 1988, with a lowest pressure of 992 mb.

Track and intensity

The whole track of Tropical Storm Elsie, 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
Western Pacific
Dates
August 24, 1988 to September 2, 1988
Peak strength
Tropical Storm, 45 kt (52 mph)
Lowest pressure
992 mb (29.29 inHg)
Landfall
No; closest approach 501 km (311 mi)
Accumulated cyclone energy
2.6
Identifier
WP111988

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
Aug 24, 06:0023.1N 154.1E25 ktTropical storm
Aug 24, 12:0023.3N 154.1E25 ktTropical storm
Aug 24, 18:0023.5N 154.1E25 ktTropical storm
Aug 25, 00:0023.8N 154.0E25 ktTropical storm
Aug 25, 06:0024.2N 153.9E25 ktTropical storm
Aug 25, 12:0024.5N 153.8E25 ktTropical storm
Aug 25, 18:0024.7N 153.6E25 ktTropical storm
Aug 26, 00:0025.0N 153.4E25 kt1010 mbTropical storm
Aug 26, 06:0025.3N 153.5E25 kt1008 mbTropical storm
Aug 26, 12:0025.4N 153.8E25 kt1008 mbTropical storm
Aug 26, 18:0025.3N 154.2E25 kt1006 mbTropical storm
Aug 27, 00:0025.0N 154.6E25 kt1006 mbTropical storm
Aug 27, 06:0024.7N 155.1E25 kt1006 mbTropical storm
Aug 27, 12:0024.4N 155.7E25 kt1006 mbTropical storm
Aug 27, 18:0023.9N 156.2E30 kt1006 mbTropical storm
Aug 28, 00:0023.4N 156.9E30 kt1006 mbTropical storm
Aug 28, 06:0022.7N 157.5E30 kt1004 mbTropical storm
Aug 28, 12:0021.9N 158.2E35 kt1004 mbTropical storm
Aug 28, 18:0022.3N 159.2E35 kt1002 mbTropical storm
Aug 29, 00:0023.1N 159.9E35 kt1002 mbTropical storm
Aug 29, 06:0024.2N 160.8E35 kt1000 mbTropical storm
Aug 29, 12:0025.4N 161.3E35 kt1000 mbTropical storm
Aug 29, 18:0026.7N 161.6E35 kt998 mbTropical storm
Aug 30, 00:0027.6N 161.4E35 kt996 mbTropical storm
Aug 30, 06:0028.9N 161.2E40 kt994 mbTropical storm
Aug 30, 12:0030.2N 160.7E40 kt994 mbTropical storm
Aug 30, 18:0031.3N 159.7E40 kt992 mbTropical storm
Aug 31, 00:0032.7N 158.5E45 kt992 mbTropical storm
Aug 31, 06:0034.2N 157.4E45 kt992 mbTropical storm
Aug 31, 12:0036.1N 156.1E45 kt992 mbTropical storm
Aug 31, 18:0038.2N 155.5E45 kt994 mbTropical storm
Sep 1, 00:0040.4N 155.9E40 kt996 mbTropical storm
Sep 1, 06:0042.9N 157.6E40 kt996 mbTropical storm
Sep 1, 12:0045.0N 160.0E35 kt996 mbTropical storm
Sep 1, 18:0047.5N 162.5E998 mbExtratropical
Sep 2, 00:0049.5N 164.5E998 mbExtratropical

Other Western 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.