The 1988 season

Tropical Storm Gay (1988)

Tropical Storm Gay peaked at 45 kt in the Western Pacific between September 2, 1988 and September 8, 1988, with a lowest pressure of 996 mb.

Radar

Reflectivity now over Tropical Storm Gay. Open it to see storms, cones and warnings on the map.

Open the live radar with storms, cones and warnings

Radar mosaic and map layers from NOAA MRMS. Boundaries from the Iowa Environmental Mesonet.

The storm

Basin
Western Pacific
Dates
September 2, 1988 to September 8, 1988
Peak strength
Tropical Storm, 45 kt (52 mph)
Lowest pressure
996 mb (29.41 inHg)
Landfall
No; closest approach 428 km (266 mi)
Accumulated cyclone energy
1.2
Identifier
WP131988

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
Sep 2, 00:0026.0N 133.0E1004 mbTropical storm
Sep 2, 06:0025.8N 134.3E30 kt1002 mbTropical storm
Sep 2, 12:0026.4N 135.8E35 kt1002 mbTropical storm
Sep 2, 18:0027.5N 136.8E40 kt1000 mbTropical storm
Sep 3, 00:0028.4N 138.0E45 kt996 mbTropical storm
Sep 3, 06:0029.4N 139.3E45 kt996 mbTropical storm
Sep 3, 12:0030.5N 140.9E40 kt996 mbTropical storm
Sep 3, 18:0031.6N 142.6E35 kt996 mbTropical storm
Sep 4, 00:0032.7N 144.2E35 kt998 mbTropical storm
Sep 4, 06:0033.4N 145.7E30 kt1000 mbTropical storm
Sep 4, 12:0033.0N 144.5E35 kt1002 mbTropical storm
Sep 4, 18:0033.5N 145.5E1004 mbExtratropical
Sep 5, 00:0034.0N 146.5E1006 mbExtratropical
Sep 5, 06:0034.0N 147.5E1006 mbExtratropical
Sep 5, 12:0034.5N 148.0E1008 mbExtratropical
Sep 5, 18:0034.5N 148.0E1006 mbExtratropical
Sep 6, 00:0034.5N 148.0E1004 mbExtratropical
Sep 6, 06:0034.5N 148.0E1002 mbExtratropical
Sep 6, 12:0034.5N 148.5E1004 mbExtratropical
Sep 6, 18:0035.0N 149.0E1004 mbExtratropical
Sep 7, 00:0036.0N 150.0E1004 mbExtratropical
Sep 7, 06:0036.5N 151.5E1004 mbExtratropical
Sep 7, 12:0037.0N 153.0E1006 mbExtratropical
Sep 7, 18:0037.0N 155.0E1006 mbExtratropical
Sep 8, 00:0038.0N 157.0E1008 mbExtratropical
Sep 8, 06:0038.0N 162.0E1010 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.