Hurricane Joan:Miriam (1988)
Hurricane Joan:Miriam reached Category 4 in the North Atlantic between October 10, 1988 and November 2, 1988, with a lowest pressure of 932 mb, and made landfall.
Track and intensity
The whole track of Hurricane Joan:Miriam, 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.
The storm
- Basin
- North Atlantic
- Dates
- October 10, 1988 to November 2, 1988
- Peak strength
- Category 4, 125 kt (144 mph)
- Lowest pressure
- 932 mb (27.52 inHg)
- Landfall
- Yes
- Accumulated cyclone energy
- 26.3
- Fastest the center moved
- 16 kt (18 mph)
- Identifier
- AL111988
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.
Landfalls
| Time (UTC) | Where | Position | Wind | Pressure |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Oct 15, 01:00 | Coast unnamed here | 12.1N 61.8W | 45 kt (52 mph) | 1003 mb |
| Oct 17, 06:00 | Santa Cruz de los Taques, Falcon, Venezuela, 104 km away | 12.0N 71.2W | 55 kt (63 mph) | 997 mb |
| Oct 22, 10:00 | Bluefields, South Caribbean Coast, Nicaragua, 14 km away | 11.9N 83.7W | 125 kt (144 mph) | 932 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) | Position | Wind | Pressure | Status |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Oct 10, 18:00 | 8.9N 42.2W | 25 kt | 1010 mb | Tropical depression |
| Oct 11, 00:00 | 9.5N 43.6W | 30 kt | 1008 mb | Tropical depression |
| Oct 11, 06:00 | 10.1N 45.0W | 35 kt | 1005 mb | Tropical storm |
| Oct 11, 12:00 | 10.7N 46.4W | 40 kt | 1003 mb | Tropical storm |
| Oct 11, 18:00 | 11.2N 47.9W | 45 kt | 1000 mb | Tropical storm |
| Oct 12, 00:00 | 11.5N 49.0W | 50 kt | 999 mb | Tropical storm |
| Oct 12, 06:00 | 11.8N 50.1W | 45 kt | 1000 mb | Tropical storm |
| Oct 12, 12:00 | 12.1N 51.3W | 45 kt | 1003 mb | Tropical storm |
| Oct 12, 18:00 | 12.3N 52.5W | 40 kt | 1006 mb | Tropical storm |
| Oct 13, 00:00 | 12.4N 53.8W | 40 kt | 1007 mb | Tropical storm |
| Oct 13, 06:00 | 12.5N 54.9W | 40 kt | 1007 mb | Tropical storm |
| Oct 13, 12:00 | 12.6N 56.0W | 40 kt | 1006 mb | Tropical storm |
| Oct 13, 18:00 | 12.7N 57.1W | 40 kt | 1005 mb | Tropical storm |
| Oct 14, 00:00 | 12.6N 58.3W | 40 kt | 1003 mb | Tropical storm |
| Oct 14, 06:00 | 12.4N 59.4W | 40 kt | 1002 mb | Tropical storm |
| Oct 14, 12:00 | 12.2N 60.0W | 45 kt | 1001 mb | Tropical storm |
| Oct 14, 18:00 | 12.0N 60.8W | 45 kt | 1001 mb | Tropical storm |
| Oct 15, 00:00 | 12.1N 61.5W | 45 kt | 1003 mb | Tropical storm |
| Oct 15, 01:00 landfall | 12.1N 61.8W | 45 kt | 1003 mb | Tropical storm |
| Oct 15, 06:00 | 12.1N 62.8W | 45 kt | 1004 mb | Tropical storm |
| Oct 15, 12:00 | 12.0N 63.8W | 45 kt | 1004 mb | Tropical storm |
| Oct 15, 18:00 | 11.9N 64.9W | 45 kt | 1003 mb | Tropical storm |
| Oct 16, 00:00 | 12.0N 66.1W | 45 kt | 1002 mb | Tropical storm |
| Oct 16, 06:00 | 12.0N 67.2W | 50 kt | 1001 mb | Tropical storm |
| Oct 16, 12:00 | 11.9N 68.2W | 50 kt | 1000 mb | Tropical storm |
| Oct 16, 18:00 | 12.0N 69.2W | 50 kt | 999 mb | Tropical storm |
| Oct 17, 00:00 | 12.0N 70.2W | 55 kt | 998 mb | Tropical storm |
| Oct 17, 06:00 landfall | 12.0N 71.2W | 55 kt | 997 mb | Tropical storm |
| Oct 17, 12:00 | 11.9N 72.1W | 60 kt | 995 mb | Tropical storm |
| Oct 17, 18:00 | 11.8N 73.0W | 60 kt | 993 mb | Tropical storm |
| Oct 18, 00:00 | 11.8N 74.0W | 65 kt | 990 mb | Hurricane |
| Oct 18, 06:00 | 11.7N 75.0W | 70 kt | 987 mb | Hurricane |
| Oct 18, 12:00 | 11.5N 75.8W | 75 kt | 984 mb | Hurricane |
| Oct 18, 18:00 | 11.3N 76.5W | 80 kt | 980 mb | Hurricane |
| Oct 19, 00:00 | 11.2N 77.2W | 90 kt | 976 mb | Hurricane |
| Oct 19, 06:00 | 11.3N 77.8W | 95 kt | 970 mb | Hurricane |
| Oct 19, 12:00 | 11.4N 78.3W | 105 kt | 960 mb | Hurricane |
| Oct 19, 18:00 | 11.3N 78.9W | 110 kt | 953 mb | Hurricane |
| Oct 20, 00:00 | 11.3N 79.3W | 105 kt | 956 mb | Hurricane |
| Oct 20, 06:00 | 11.1N 79.8W | 85 kt | 967 mb | Hurricane |
| Oct 20, 12:00 | 11.1N 79.5W | 70 kt | 971 mb | Hurricane |
| Oct 20, 18:00 | 11.3N 79.9W | 70 kt | 973 mb | Hurricane |
| Oct 21, 00:00 | 11.5N 80.3W | 75 kt | 972 mb | Hurricane |
| Oct 21, 06:00 | 11.5N 80.7W | 90 kt | 970 mb | Hurricane |
| Oct 21, 12:00 | 11.6N 81.2W | 100 kt | 964 mb | Hurricane |
| Oct 21, 18:00 | 11.8N 81.8W | 110 kt | 952 mb | Hurricane |
| Oct 22, 00:00 | 11.9N 82.5W | 120 kt | 937 mb | Hurricane |
| Oct 22, 06:00 | 11.9N 83.2W | 125 kt | 932 mb | Hurricane |
| Oct 22, 10:00 landfall | 11.9N 83.7W | 125 kt | 932 mb | Hurricane |
| Oct 22, 12:00 | 11.9N 83.9W | 120 kt | 936 mb | Hurricane |
| Oct 22, 18:00 | 12.0N 85.0W | 70 kt | 983 mb | Hurricane |
| Oct 23, 00:00 | 12.1N 85.9W | 55 kt | 993 mb | Tropical storm |
| Oct 23, 06:00 | 12.2N 86.8W | 45 kt | 1000 mb | Tropical storm |
| Oct 23, 12:00 | 12.5N 87.8W | 50 kt | 994 mb | Tropical storm |
| Oct 23, 18:00 | 12.8N 88.7W | 55 kt | 998 mb | Tropical storm |
| Oct 24, 00:00 | 13.1N 89.5W | 60 kt | 986 mb | Tropical storm |
| Oct 24, 06:00 | 13.4N 90.2W | 60 kt | 987 mb | Tropical storm |
| Oct 24, 12:00 | 13.6N 90.9W | 55 kt | 991 mb | Tropical storm |
| Oct 24, 18:00 | 13.8N 91.5W | 50 kt | 994 mb | Tropical storm |
| Oct 25, 00:00 | 14.0N 92.1W | 50 kt | 997 mb | Tropical storm |
| Oct 25, 06:00 | 14.1N 92.7W | 45 kt | 1000 mb | Tropical storm |
| Oct 25, 12:00 | 14.0N 93.4W | 40 kt | 1002 mb | Tropical storm |
| Oct 25, 18:00 | 13.7N 94.0W | 35 kt | 1003 mb | Tropical storm |
| Oct 26, 00:00 | 13.4N 94.6W | 30 kt | 1004 mb | Tropical depression |
| Oct 26, 06:00 | 13.0N 95.2W | 30 kt | 1005 mb | Tropical depression |
| Oct 26, 12:00 | 12.5N 95.9W | 30 kt | 1005 mb | Tropical depression |
| Oct 26, 18:00 | 12.2N 96.3W | 30 kt | 1005 mb | Tropical depression |
| Oct 27, 00:00 | 11.9N 96.9W | 30 kt | 1005 mb | Tropical depression |
| Oct 27, 06:00 | 11.8N 97.6W | 30 kt | 1005 mb | Tropical depression |
| Oct 27, 12:00 | 11.8N 98.3W | 30 kt | 1005 mb | Tropical depression |
| Oct 27, 18:00 | 11.8N 98.9W | 25 kt | 1006 mb | Tropical depression |
| Oct 28, 00:00 | 11.9N 99.5W | 25 kt | 1007 mb | Tropical depression |
| Oct 28, 06:00 | 12.0N 100.0W | 25 kt | 1009 mb | Tropical depression |
| Oct 28, 12:00 | 12.0N 100.5W | 20 kt | 1010 mb | Tropical depression |
| Oct 28, 18:00 | 12.0N 101.6W | 10 kt | Low | |
| Oct 29, 00:00 | 12.1N 102.6W | 10 kt | Low | |
| Oct 29, 06:00 | 12.2N 103.7W | 10 kt | Low | |
| Oct 29, 12:00 | 12.3N 104.8W | 10 kt | Low | |
| Oct 29, 18:00 | 12.4N 105.8W | 10 kt | Low | |
| Oct 30, 00:00 | 12.6N 106.9W | 10 kt | Low | |
| Oct 30, 06:00 | 12.7N 108.0W | 10 kt | Low | |
| Oct 30, 12:00 | 12.9N 109.0W | 20 kt | 1008 mb | Tropical depression |
| Oct 30, 18:00 | 13.4N 110.3W | 25 kt | 1007 mb | Tropical depression |
| Oct 31, 00:00 | 14.0N 111.5W | 25 kt | 1007 mb | Tropical depression |
| Oct 31, 06:00 | 14.6N 112.3W | 25 kt | 1006 mb | Tropical depression |
| Oct 31, 12:00 | 15.2N 113.1W | 30 kt | 1006 mb | Tropical depression |
| Oct 31, 18:00 | 15.8N 113.6W | 30 kt | 1006 mb | Tropical depression |
| Nov 1, 00:00 | 16.4N 114.1W | 30 kt | 1006 mb | Tropical depression |
| Nov 1, 06:00 | 16.8N 114.8W | 30 kt | 1006 mb | Tropical depression |
| Nov 1, 12:00 | 17.2N 115.5W | 30 kt | 1006 mb | Tropical depression |
| Nov 1, 18:00 | 17.6N 116.2W | 30 kt | 1006 mb | Tropical depression |
| Nov 2, 00:00 | 17.9N 116.9W | 30 kt | 1007 mb | Tropical depression |
| Nov 2, 06:00 | 18.2N 117.6W | 30 kt | 1008 mb | Tropical depression |
| Nov 2, 12:00 | 18.4N 118.3W | 25 kt | 1010 mb | Tropical depression |
Other North Atlantic storms of 1988
- Unnamed tropical depressionNorth Atlantic · 1988
- Tropical Storm AlbertoNorth Atlantic · 1988
- Tropical Storm BerylNorth Atlantic · 1988
- Unnamed tropical depressionNorth Atlantic · 1988
- Unnamed tropical depressionNorth Atlantic · 1988
- Unnamed tropical depressionNorth Atlantic · 1988
- Tropical Storm ChrisNorth Atlantic · 1988
- Hurricane DebbyNorth Atlantic · 1988
- Tropical Storm ErnestoNorth Atlantic · 1988
- Unnamed tropical depressionNorth Atlantic · 1988
- Unnamed tropical stormNorth Atlantic · 1988
- Hurricane FlorenceNorth Atlantic · 1988
- Hurricane GilbertNorth Atlantic · 1988
- Hurricane HeleneNorth Atlantic · 1988
- Unnamed tropical depressionNorth Atlantic · 1988
- Tropical Storm IsaacNorth Atlantic · 1988
- Unnamed tropical depressionNorth Atlantic · 1988
- Hurricane KeithNorth Atlantic · 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.