The 1988 season

Tropical Storm Val (1988)

Tropical Storm Val peaked at 55 kt in the Western Pacific between December 21, 1988 and December 27, 1988, with a lowest pressure of 992 mb, and made landfall.

Radar

Reflectivity now over Tropical Storm Val. 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
December 21, 1988 to December 27, 1988
Peak strength
Tropical Storm, 55 kt (63 mph)
Lowest pressure
992 mb (29.29 inHg)
Landfall
Yes
Accumulated cyclone energy
1.7
Identifier
WP261988

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
Dec 21, 06:005.0N 141.5E20 ktTropical storm
Dec 21, 12:006.3N 140.1E20 ktTropical storm
Dec 21, 18:007.3N 138.5E20 ktTropical storm
Dec 22, 00:008.6N 136.3E20 ktTropical storm
Dec 22, 06:0010.1N 134.4E25 kt1002 mbTropical storm
Dec 22, 12:0011.1N 131.9E25 kt1002 mbMixed
Dec 22, 18:0011.9N 129.5E30 kt1002 mbTropical storm
Dec 23, 00:0013.0N 127.6E30 kt1000 mbTropical storm
Dec 23, 06:0013.8N 126.2E35 kt998 mbTropical storm
Dec 23, 12:0014.3N 125.7E40 kt998 mbTropical storm
Dec 23, 18:0014.6N 125.3E45 kt998 mbTropical storm
Dec 24, 00:0014.7N 125.0E55 kt996 mbTropical storm
Dec 24, 06:0014.8N 124.7E55 kt992 mbTropical storm
Dec 24, 12:0014.9N 124.5E50 kt992 mbTropical storm
Dec 24, 18:0014.9N 124.4E45 kt994 mbTropical storm
Dec 25, 00:0015.0N 124.3E40 kt996 mbTropical storm
Dec 25, 06:0015.8N 123.8E998 mbTropical storm
Dec 25, 12:0016.0N 123.9E1000 mbTropical storm
Dec 25, 18:0016.0N 123.9E1002 mbTropical storm
Dec 26, 00:0015.6N 124.0E1004 mbTropical storm
Dec 26, 06:0015.3N 124.1E1004 mbTropical storm
Dec 26, 12:0015.0N 124.0E1006 mbTropical storm
Dec 26, 18:0015.0N 124.0E1006 mbTropical storm
Dec 27, 00:0015.0N 124.0E1008 mbTropical storm
Dec 27, 06:0014.5N 123.0E1008 mbTropical storm
Dec 27, 12:0014.0N 122.0E1010 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.