The 1989 season

Typhoon Cecil (1989)

Typhoon Cecil reached Category 1 in the Western Pacific between May 21, 1989 and May 26, 1989, with a lowest pressure of 975 mb, and made landfall.

Track and intensity

The whole track of Typhoon Cecil, 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.

Open the live map with storms, cones and warnings

The storm

Basin
Western Pacific
Dates
May 21, 1989 to May 26, 1989
Peak strength
Category 1, 75 kt (86 mph)
Lowest pressure
975 mb (28.79 inHg)
Landfall
Yes
Accumulated cyclone energy
3.9
Fastest the center moved
11 kt (13 mph)
Identifier
WP041989

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 21, 18:0011.4N 114.4ETropical storm
May 22, 00:0011.7N 114.1E25 kt1002 mbTropical storm
May 22, 06:0012.4N 113.7E30 kt1000 mbTropical storm
May 22, 12:0013.0N 113.3E35 kt1000 mbTropical storm
May 22, 18:0013.6N 113.0E45 kt996 mbTropical storm
May 23, 00:0014.3N 112.6E50 kt992 mbTropical storm
May 23, 06:0014.8N 112.1E55 kt985 mbTropical storm
May 23, 12:0015.2N 111.5E55 kt980 mbTropical storm
May 23, 18:0015.5N 111.0E60 kt980 mbTropical storm
May 24, 00:0015.7N 110.4E65 kt980 mbTropical storm
May 24, 06:0015.7N 109.7E70 kt975 mbTropical storm
May 24, 12:0015.8N 109.2E75 kt975 mbTropical storm
May 24, 18:0015.8N 108.6E70 kt975 mbTropical storm
May 25, 00:0016.0N 107.9E50 kt980 mbTropical storm
May 25, 06:0016.4N 107.2E35 kt985 mbTropical storm
May 25, 12:0016.8N 106.4E30 kt990 mbTropical storm
May 25, 18:0017.2N 105.6E25 kt994 mbTropical storm
May 26, 00:0017.8N 104.7E20 kt1000 mbTropical storm
May 26, 06:0017.5N 104.0E1002 mbTropical storm
May 26, 12:0018.0N 103.0E1002 mbTropical storm

Other Western 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.