The 1988 season

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.

Open the live map with storms, cones and warnings

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)WherePositionWindPressure
Oct 15, 01:00Coast unnamed here12.1N 61.8W45 kt (52 mph)1003 mb
Oct 17, 06:00Santa Cruz de los Taques, Falcon, Venezuela, 104 km away12.0N 71.2W55 kt (63 mph)997 mb
Oct 22, 10:00Bluefields, South Caribbean Coast, Nicaragua, 14 km away11.9N 83.7W125 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)PositionWindPressureStatus
Oct 10, 18:008.9N 42.2W25 kt1010 mbTropical depression
Oct 11, 00:009.5N 43.6W30 kt1008 mbTropical depression
Oct 11, 06:0010.1N 45.0W35 kt1005 mbTropical storm
Oct 11, 12:0010.7N 46.4W40 kt1003 mbTropical storm
Oct 11, 18:0011.2N 47.9W45 kt1000 mbTropical storm
Oct 12, 00:0011.5N 49.0W50 kt999 mbTropical storm
Oct 12, 06:0011.8N 50.1W45 kt1000 mbTropical storm
Oct 12, 12:0012.1N 51.3W45 kt1003 mbTropical storm
Oct 12, 18:0012.3N 52.5W40 kt1006 mbTropical storm
Oct 13, 00:0012.4N 53.8W40 kt1007 mbTropical storm
Oct 13, 06:0012.5N 54.9W40 kt1007 mbTropical storm
Oct 13, 12:0012.6N 56.0W40 kt1006 mbTropical storm
Oct 13, 18:0012.7N 57.1W40 kt1005 mbTropical storm
Oct 14, 00:0012.6N 58.3W40 kt1003 mbTropical storm
Oct 14, 06:0012.4N 59.4W40 kt1002 mbTropical storm
Oct 14, 12:0012.2N 60.0W45 kt1001 mbTropical storm
Oct 14, 18:0012.0N 60.8W45 kt1001 mbTropical storm
Oct 15, 00:0012.1N 61.5W45 kt1003 mbTropical storm
Oct 15, 01:00 landfall12.1N 61.8W45 kt1003 mbTropical storm
Oct 15, 06:0012.1N 62.8W45 kt1004 mbTropical storm
Oct 15, 12:0012.0N 63.8W45 kt1004 mbTropical storm
Oct 15, 18:0011.9N 64.9W45 kt1003 mbTropical storm
Oct 16, 00:0012.0N 66.1W45 kt1002 mbTropical storm
Oct 16, 06:0012.0N 67.2W50 kt1001 mbTropical storm
Oct 16, 12:0011.9N 68.2W50 kt1000 mbTropical storm
Oct 16, 18:0012.0N 69.2W50 kt999 mbTropical storm
Oct 17, 00:0012.0N 70.2W55 kt998 mbTropical storm
Oct 17, 06:00 landfall12.0N 71.2W55 kt997 mbTropical storm
Oct 17, 12:0011.9N 72.1W60 kt995 mbTropical storm
Oct 17, 18:0011.8N 73.0W60 kt993 mbTropical storm
Oct 18, 00:0011.8N 74.0W65 kt990 mbHurricane
Oct 18, 06:0011.7N 75.0W70 kt987 mbHurricane
Oct 18, 12:0011.5N 75.8W75 kt984 mbHurricane
Oct 18, 18:0011.3N 76.5W80 kt980 mbHurricane
Oct 19, 00:0011.2N 77.2W90 kt976 mbHurricane
Oct 19, 06:0011.3N 77.8W95 kt970 mbHurricane
Oct 19, 12:0011.4N 78.3W105 kt960 mbHurricane
Oct 19, 18:0011.3N 78.9W110 kt953 mbHurricane
Oct 20, 00:0011.3N 79.3W105 kt956 mbHurricane
Oct 20, 06:0011.1N 79.8W85 kt967 mbHurricane
Oct 20, 12:0011.1N 79.5W70 kt971 mbHurricane
Oct 20, 18:0011.3N 79.9W70 kt973 mbHurricane
Oct 21, 00:0011.5N 80.3W75 kt972 mbHurricane
Oct 21, 06:0011.5N 80.7W90 kt970 mbHurricane
Oct 21, 12:0011.6N 81.2W100 kt964 mbHurricane
Oct 21, 18:0011.8N 81.8W110 kt952 mbHurricane
Oct 22, 00:0011.9N 82.5W120 kt937 mbHurricane
Oct 22, 06:0011.9N 83.2W125 kt932 mbHurricane
Oct 22, 10:00 landfall11.9N 83.7W125 kt932 mbHurricane
Oct 22, 12:0011.9N 83.9W120 kt936 mbHurricane
Oct 22, 18:0012.0N 85.0W70 kt983 mbHurricane
Oct 23, 00:0012.1N 85.9W55 kt993 mbTropical storm
Oct 23, 06:0012.2N 86.8W45 kt1000 mbTropical storm
Oct 23, 12:0012.5N 87.8W50 kt994 mbTropical storm
Oct 23, 18:0012.8N 88.7W55 kt998 mbTropical storm
Oct 24, 00:0013.1N 89.5W60 kt986 mbTropical storm
Oct 24, 06:0013.4N 90.2W60 kt987 mbTropical storm
Oct 24, 12:0013.6N 90.9W55 kt991 mbTropical storm
Oct 24, 18:0013.8N 91.5W50 kt994 mbTropical storm
Oct 25, 00:0014.0N 92.1W50 kt997 mbTropical storm
Oct 25, 06:0014.1N 92.7W45 kt1000 mbTropical storm
Oct 25, 12:0014.0N 93.4W40 kt1002 mbTropical storm
Oct 25, 18:0013.7N 94.0W35 kt1003 mbTropical storm
Oct 26, 00:0013.4N 94.6W30 kt1004 mbTropical depression
Oct 26, 06:0013.0N 95.2W30 kt1005 mbTropical depression
Oct 26, 12:0012.5N 95.9W30 kt1005 mbTropical depression
Oct 26, 18:0012.2N 96.3W30 kt1005 mbTropical depression
Oct 27, 00:0011.9N 96.9W30 kt1005 mbTropical depression
Oct 27, 06:0011.8N 97.6W30 kt1005 mbTropical depression
Oct 27, 12:0011.8N 98.3W30 kt1005 mbTropical depression
Oct 27, 18:0011.8N 98.9W25 kt1006 mbTropical depression
Oct 28, 00:0011.9N 99.5W25 kt1007 mbTropical depression
Oct 28, 06:0012.0N 100.0W25 kt1009 mbTropical depression
Oct 28, 12:0012.0N 100.5W20 kt1010 mbTropical depression
Oct 28, 18:0012.0N 101.6W10 ktLow
Oct 29, 00:0012.1N 102.6W10 ktLow
Oct 29, 06:0012.2N 103.7W10 ktLow
Oct 29, 12:0012.3N 104.8W10 ktLow
Oct 29, 18:0012.4N 105.8W10 ktLow
Oct 30, 00:0012.6N 106.9W10 ktLow
Oct 30, 06:0012.7N 108.0W10 ktLow
Oct 30, 12:0012.9N 109.0W20 kt1008 mbTropical depression
Oct 30, 18:0013.4N 110.3W25 kt1007 mbTropical depression
Oct 31, 00:0014.0N 111.5W25 kt1007 mbTropical depression
Oct 31, 06:0014.6N 112.3W25 kt1006 mbTropical depression
Oct 31, 12:0015.2N 113.1W30 kt1006 mbTropical depression
Oct 31, 18:0015.8N 113.6W30 kt1006 mbTropical depression
Nov 1, 00:0016.4N 114.1W30 kt1006 mbTropical depression
Nov 1, 06:0016.8N 114.8W30 kt1006 mbTropical depression
Nov 1, 12:0017.2N 115.5W30 kt1006 mbTropical depression
Nov 1, 18:0017.6N 116.2W30 kt1006 mbTropical depression
Nov 2, 00:0017.9N 116.9W30 kt1007 mbTropical depression
Nov 2, 06:0018.2N 117.6W30 kt1008 mbTropical depression
Nov 2, 12:0018.4N 118.3W25 kt1010 mbTropical depression

Other North Atlantic 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.