The 1988 season

Tropical Storm Irma (1988)

Tropical Storm Irma peaked at 55 kt in the Western Pacific between September 11, 1988 and September 17, 1988, with a lowest pressure of 990 mb.

Radar

Reflectivity now over Tropical Storm Irma. 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 11, 1988 to September 17, 1988
Peak strength
Tropical Storm, 55 kt (63 mph)
Lowest pressure
990 mb (29.23 inHg)
Landfall
No; closest approach 1487 km (924 mi)
Accumulated cyclone energy
4.2
Identifier
WP151988

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 11, 00:0020.7N 158.7E25 kt1008 mbTropical storm
Sep 11, 06:0020.9N 159.2E30 kt1006 mbMixed
Sep 11, 12:0021.2N 159.5E30 kt1004 mbTropical storm
Sep 11, 18:0021.9N 159.8E35 kt1000 mbTropical storm
Sep 12, 00:0022.6N 160.1E40 kt998 mbTropical storm
Sep 12, 06:0023.2N 159.9E45 kt996 mbTropical storm
Sep 12, 12:0023.6N 159.6E45 kt996 mbTropical storm
Sep 12, 18:0023.9N 159.0E45 kt992 mbTropical storm
Sep 13, 00:0024.4N 158.4E45 kt992 mbTropical storm
Sep 13, 06:0024.9N 158.0E50 kt992 mbTropical storm
Sep 13, 12:0025.2N 157.9E55 kt992 mbTropical storm
Sep 13, 18:0025.7N 157.8E55 kt990 mbTropical storm
Sep 14, 00:0026.3N 157.6E55 kt990 mbTropical storm
Sep 14, 06:0026.6N 157.4E55 kt990 mbTropical storm
Sep 14, 12:0027.0N 157.0E55 kt990 mbTropical storm
Sep 14, 18:0027.3N 156.7E55 kt990 mbTropical storm
Sep 15, 00:0027.6N 156.4E55 kt990 mbTropical storm
Sep 15, 06:0028.3N 156.0E50 kt992 mbTropical storm
Sep 15, 12:0028.9N 155.7E45 kt994 mbTropical storm
Sep 15, 18:0029.8N 155.6E40 kt996 mbTropical storm
Sep 16, 00:0030.4N 155.8E35 kt998 mbTropical storm
Sep 16, 06:0030.9N 156.2E30 kt1000 mbTropical storm
Sep 16, 12:0032.0N 157.0E1004 mbTropical storm
Sep 16, 18:0033.0N 158.0E1008 mbTropical storm
Sep 17, 00:0034.0N 159.0E1012 mbTropical storm

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.