The 1988 season

Typhoon Susan (1988)

Typhoon Susan reached Category 1 in the Western Pacific between May 28, 1988 and June 3, 1988, with a lowest pressure of 970 mb, and made landfall.

Radar

Reflectivity now over Typhoon Susan. 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
May 28, 1988 to June 3, 1988
Peak strength
Category 1, 80 kt (92 mph)
Lowest pressure
970 mb (28.64 inHg)
Landfall
Yes
Accumulated cyclone energy
5.9
Identifier
WP021988

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
May 28, 18:0019.0N 118.5E1004 mbTropical storm
May 29, 00:0019.1N 120.5E20 kt1004 mbTropical storm
May 29, 06:0019.1N 120.1E20 kt1004 mbTropical storm
May 29, 12:0019.1N 119.8E25 kt1000 mbTropical storm
May 29, 18:0019.0N 119.5E25 kt1000 mbTropical storm
May 30, 00:0018.7N 119.2E30 kt1000 mbTropical storm
May 30, 06:0018.4N 119.4E35 kt996 mbTropical storm
May 30, 12:0018.2N 119.0E45 kt994 mbTropical storm
May 30, 18:0018.4N 118.5E50 kt992 mbTropical storm
May 31, 00:0018.6N 118.2E55 kt990 mbTropical storm
May 31, 06:0019.0N 118.0E60 kt985 mbTropical storm
May 31, 12:0019.4N 117.9E65 kt985 mbTropical storm
May 31, 18:0019.8N 117.9E65 kt980 mbTropical storm
Jun 1, 00:0020.2N 117.9E70 kt975 mbTropical storm
Jun 1, 06:0020.6N 118.2E75 kt975 mbTropical storm
Jun 1, 12:0021.1N 118.7E80 kt970 mbTropical storm
Jun 1, 18:0021.7N 119.8E75 kt970 mbTropical storm
Jun 2, 00:0022.3N 121.2E70 kt975 mbTropical storm
Jun 2, 06:0023.5N 122.7E65 kt975 mbTropical storm
Jun 2, 12:0024.8N 124.4E55 kt980 mbTropical storm
Jun 2, 18:0025.5N 126.5E45 kt985 mbTropical storm
Jun 3, 00:0025.6N 128.4E35 kt992 mbTropical storm
Jun 3, 06:0026.3N 130.2E25 kt998 mbMixed

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.