The 1989 season

Cyclone Aivu (1989)

Cyclone Aivu reached Category 4 in the South Pacific between March 29, 1989 and April 5, 1989, with a lowest pressure of 935 mb, and made landfall.

Track and intensity

The whole track of Cyclone Aivu, colored by strength, with the other storms of the 1989 season in the same basin behind it, and its wind and pressure hour by hour. Every fix is in the track table below.

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The storm

Basin
South Pacific
Dates
March 29, 1989 to April 5, 1989
Peak strength
Category 4, 120 kt (138 mph)
Lowest pressure
935 mb (27.61 inHg)
Landfall
Yes
Accumulated cyclone energy
9.6
Identifier
SH231989

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
Mar 29, 12:0011.4S 158.2E25 ktTropical storm
Mar 29, 18:0011.3S 157.8E25 ktTropical storm
Mar 30, 00:0011.2S 157.4E25 ktTropical storm
Mar 30, 06:0011.1S 156.9E25 ktTropical storm
Mar 30, 12:0011.1S 156.4E25 ktTropical storm
Mar 30, 18:0011.0S 155.8E25 ktTropical storm
Mar 31, 00:0010.8S 155.2E25 ktTropical storm
Mar 31, 06:0010.4S 154.4E25 ktTropical storm
Mar 31, 12:009.9S 153.8E25 kt1000 mbTropical storm
Mar 31, 18:0010.0S 153.2E25 kt998 mbTropical storm
Apr 1, 00:0010.3S 152.7E35 kt995 mbTropical storm
Apr 1, 06:0011.0S 152.4E40 kt990 mbTropical storm
Apr 1, 12:0011.8S 151.9E45 kt989 mbTropical storm
Apr 1, 18:0012.9S 151.4E50 kt986 mbTropical storm
Apr 2, 00:0013.9S 150.8E60 kt984 mbTropical storm
Apr 2, 06:0014.9S 150.2E65 kt980 mbTropical storm
Apr 2, 12:0015.6S 149.6E75 kt975 mbTropical storm
Apr 2, 18:0016.0S 149.4E85 kt962 mbTropical storm
Apr 3, 00:0016.4S 149.2E110 kt950 mbTropical storm
Apr 3, 06:0017.2S 149.1E115 kt935 mbTropical storm
Apr 3, 12:0017.9S 148.8E120 kt942 mbTropical storm
Apr 3, 18:0018.5S 148.4E110 kt948 mbTropical storm
Apr 4, 00:0019.3S 147.7E100 kt955 mbTropical storm
Apr 4, 06:0020.1S 147.0E55 kt987 mbTropical storm
Apr 4, 12:0020.4S 145.9E45 kt993 mbTropical storm
Apr 4, 18:0020.9S 145.0E35 kt997 mbTropical storm
Apr 5, 00:0022.0S 144.0E25 kt1000 mbTropical storm
Apr 5, 06:0022.0S 142.8E20 kt1001 mbMixed
Apr 5, 12:0022.0S 142.1E15 kt1003 mbMixed

Other South Pacific storms of 1989

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.