The 1989 season

Tropical Storm Allison (1989)

Tropical Storm Allison peaked at 45 kt in the North Atlantic between June 24, 1989 and July 1, 1989, with a lowest pressure of 999 mb, and made landfall.

Track and intensity

The whole track of Tropical Storm Allison, 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
North Atlantic
Dates
June 24, 1989 to July 1, 1989
Peak strength
Tropical Storm, 45 kt (52 mph)
Lowest pressure
999 mb (29.50 inHg)
Landfall
Yes
Accumulated cyclone energy
0.9
Fastest the center moved
8 kt (9 mph)
Identifier
AL021989

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.

Landfall

Time (UTC)WherePositionWindPressure
Jun 26, 13:00Matagorda, TX, 26 km away28.7N 95.7W40 kt (46 mph)1002 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.

Rainfall

The Weather Prediction Center attributes 2,981 rain gauge totals over the contiguous United States to this storm. The wettest reached 25.67 inches (652 mm).

StationTotalPosition
WINNFIELD 2 W25.67 in (652 mm)31.93N 92.67W
GORUM FIRE TOWER24.82 in (630 mm)31.42N 92.90W
ANAHUAC20.50 in (521 mm)29.78N 94.67W
ASHLAND20.29 in (515 mm)32.17N 93.13W
ORANGE 9 N20.28 in (515 mm)30.23N 93.73W
SULPHUR19.81 in (503 mm)30.23N 93.35W
ROSEPINE RESEARCH STN19.76 in (502 mm)30.95N 93.28W
ELIZABETH19.51 in (496 mm)30.85N 92.78W
Middle Bayou @ Genoa-RedBluff18.90 in (480 mm)29.65N 95.13W
BIENVILLE 3 NE18.37 in (467 mm)32.37N 92.95W
LEESVILLE 6 SSW18.31 in (465 mm)31.05N 93.28W
OBERLIN FIRE TOWER18.30 in (465 mm)30.60N 92.77W

WPC’s storm rainfall file, 1900 to 2020, compiled by David Roth.

Track

Time (UTC)PositionWindPressureStatus
Jun 24, 18:0027.0N 96.0W30 kt1008 mbTropical depression
Jun 25, 00:0027.0N 96.0W30 kt1006 mbTropical depression
Jun 25, 06:0027.2N 96.0W30 kt1005 mbTropical depression
Jun 25, 12:0027.4N 95.9W30 kt1005 mbTropical depression
Jun 25, 18:0027.6N 95.8W30 kt1005 mbTropical depression
Jun 26, 00:0027.8N 95.8W35 kt1004 mbTropical storm
Jun 26, 06:0028.1N 95.8W35 kt1004 mbTropical storm
Jun 26, 12:0028.6N 95.7W40 kt1003 mbTropical storm
Jun 26, 13:00 landfall28.7N 95.7W40 kt1002 mbTropical storm
Jun 26, 18:0029.1N 95.7W45 kt1001 mbTropical storm
Jun 27, 00:0029.7N 95.7W45 kt999 mbTropical storm
Jun 27, 06:0030.2N 95.3W35 kt1000 mbTropical storm
Jun 27, 12:0030.6N 94.9W30 kt1002 mbTropical depression
Jun 27, 18:0030.9N 94.6W30 kt1004 mbTropical depression
Jun 28, 00:0031.1N 94.2W30 kt1004 mbExtratropical
Jun 28, 06:0031.1N 93.9W30 kt1005 mbExtratropical
Jun 28, 12:0031.0N 93.7W30 kt1006 mbExtratropical
Jun 28, 18:0030.6N 93.8W25 kt1007 mbExtratropical
Jun 29, 00:0030.5N 94.2W25 kt1008 mbExtratropical
Jun 29, 06:0030.3N 94.6W25 kt1008 mbExtratropical
Jun 29, 12:0030.1N 95.0W25 kt1008 mbExtratropical
Jun 29, 18:0029.8N 95.2W25 kt1008 mbExtratropical
Jun 30, 00:0029.6N 95.3W20 kt1009 mbExtratropical
Jun 30, 06:0029.7N 95.7W20 kt1010 mbExtratropical
Jun 30, 12:0030.4N 95.7W20 kt1011 mbExtratropical
Jun 30, 18:0031.1N 95.5W20 kt1010 mbExtratropical
Jul 1, 00:0031.8N 95.1W20 kt1010 mbExtratropical
Jul 1, 06:0032.3N 94.5W20 kt1010 mbExtratropical
Jul 1, 12:0032.8N 93.8W20 kt1010 mbExtratropical

Other North Atlantic 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.

The National Hurricane Center has published no tropical cyclone report for this storm.