The 1988 season

Hurricane Fabio (1988)

Hurricane Fabio reached Category 4 in the Eastern Pacific between July 28, 1988 and August 9, 1988, with a lowest pressure of 943 mb.

Track and intensity

The whole track of Hurricane Fabio, 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
Eastern Pacific
Dates
July 28, 1988 to August 9, 1988
Peak strength
Category 4, 120 kt (138 mph)
Lowest pressure
943 mb (27.85 inHg)
Landfall
No; closest approach 380 km (236 mi)
Accumulated cyclone energy
16.7
Fastest the center moved
13 kt (15 mph)
Identifier
EP061988

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
Jul 28, 18:0012.0N 121.0W25 kt1011 mbTropical depression
Jul 29, 00:0012.0N 122.0W25 kt1009 mbTropical depression
Jul 29, 06:0012.0N 123.0W30 kt1008 mbTropical depression
Jul 29, 12:0012.0N 124.0W30 kt1006 mbTropical depression
Jul 29, 18:0012.0N 125.0W40 kt1003 mbTropical storm
Jul 30, 00:0011.9N 126.0W50 kt999 mbTropical storm
Jul 30, 06:0011.9N 126.9W55 kt994 mbTropical storm
Jul 30, 12:0011.9N 127.7W55 kt991 mbTropical storm
Jul 30, 18:0011.9N 128.6W60 kt988 mbTropical storm
Jul 31, 00:0012.0N 129.6W60 kt986 mbTropical storm
Jul 31, 06:0012.1N 130.6W60 kt984 mbTropical storm
Jul 31, 12:0012.2N 131.4W65 kt982 mbHurricane
Jul 31, 18:0012.4N 132.3W65 kt981 mbHurricane
Aug 1, 00:0012.5N 133.3W70 kt980 mbHurricane
Aug 1, 06:0012.7N 134.3W70 kt978 mbHurricane
Aug 1, 12:0012.8N 135.3W75 kt976 mbHurricane
Aug 1, 18:0012.9N 136.4W75 kt974 mbHurricane
Aug 2, 00:0013.0N 137.5W80 kt972 mbHurricane
Aug 2, 06:0013.0N 138.5W85 kt970 mbHurricane
Aug 2, 12:0013.2N 139.6W90 kt966 mbHurricane
Aug 2, 18:0013.4N 140.7W95 kt960 mbHurricane
Aug 3, 00:0013.7N 141.7W105 kt950 mbHurricane
Aug 3, 06:0014.2N 142.7W115 kt944 mbHurricane
Aug 3, 12:0014.7N 143.8W120 kt943 mbHurricane
Aug 3, 18:0015.2N 145.0W110 kt959 mbHurricane
Aug 4, 00:0015.7N 146.2W100 kt977 mbHurricane
Aug 4, 06:0016.0N 147.2W90 kt981 mbHurricane
Aug 4, 12:0016.2N 148.3W75 kt985 mbHurricane
Aug 4, 18:0016.2N 149.5W65 kt993 mbHurricane
Aug 5, 00:0015.9N 150.6W50 kt999 mbTropical storm
Aug 5, 06:0015.7N 151.7W45 kt1002 mbTropical storm
Aug 5, 12:0015.6N 152.6W40 kt1003 mbTropical storm
Aug 5, 18:0015.4N 153.4W35 kt1005 mbTropical storm
Aug 6, 00:0015.5N 154.2W30 kt1006 mbTropical depression
Aug 6, 06:0015.5N 155.0W30 kt1007 mbTropical depression
Aug 6, 12:0015.5N 155.7W30 kt1008 mbTropical depression
Aug 6, 18:0015.5N 156.5W30 kt1008 mbTropical depression
Aug 7, 00:0015.5N 157.2W30 kt1008 mbTropical depression
Aug 7, 06:0015.5N 158.0W30 kt1009 mbTropical depression
Aug 7, 12:0015.6N 158.6W30 kt1009 mbTropical depression
Aug 7, 18:0015.8N 159.3W30 kt1009 mbTropical depression
Aug 8, 00:0016.1N 159.9W30 kt1010 mbTropical depression
Aug 8, 06:0016.3N 160.5W30 kt1010 mbTropical depression
Aug 8, 12:0016.6N 161.1W30 kt1010 mbTropical depression
Aug 8, 18:0016.8N 161.6W25 kt1011 mbTropical depression
Aug 9, 00:0017.0N 162.2W25 kt1011 mbTropical depression
Aug 9, 06:0017.3N 162.8W25 kt1012 mbTropical depression
Aug 9, 12:0017.6N 163.4W25 kt1012 mbTropical depression
Aug 9, 18:0018.0N 164.0W20 kt1012 mbTropical depression

Other Eastern 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.

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