The 1989 season

Tropical Storm Delilah (1989)

Tropical Storm Delilah peaked at 60 kt in the South Pacific between December 28, 1988 and January 8, 1989, with a lowest pressure of 975 mb.

Track and intensity

The whole track of Tropical Storm Delilah, 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
December 28, 1988 to January 8, 1989
Peak strength
Tropical Storm, 60 kt (69 mph)
Lowest pressure
975 mb (28.79 inHg)
Landfall
No; closest approach 44 km (27 mi)
Accumulated cyclone energy
4.5
Identifier
SH041989

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 28, 18:0016.7S 148.4E20 kt1001 mbTropical storm
Dec 29, 00:0016.8S 148.7E20 kt1001 mbTropical storm
Dec 29, 06:0019.0S 147.0E25 kt1001 mbTropical storm
Dec 29, 12:0018.8S 147.3E25 kt1002 mbTropical storm
Dec 29, 18:0018.7S 147.7E25 kt1001 mbTropical storm
Dec 30, 00:0018.6S 148.2E25 kt1001 mbTropical storm
Dec 30, 06:0018.5S 148.5E30 kt999 mbTropical storm
Dec 30, 12:0018.4S 149.0E30 kt1000 mbTropical storm
Dec 30, 18:0018.3S 149.6E30 kt998 mbTropical storm
Dec 31, 00:0018.2S 150.1E30 kt997 mbTropical storm
Dec 31, 06:0018.0S 151.0E30 kt995 mbTropical storm
Dec 31, 12:0017.8S 152.5E30 kt995 mbTropical storm
Dec 31, 18:0017.8S 154.1E30 kt994 mbTropical storm
Jan 1, 00:0017.9S 155.6E35 kt991 mbTropical storm
Jan 1, 06:0018.1S 157.3E45 kt988 mbTropical storm
Jan 1, 12:0018.3S 159.2E45 kt988 mbTropical storm
Jan 1, 18:0018.7S 161.2E45 kt980 mbTropical storm
Jan 2, 00:0019.4S 163.0E55 kt980 mbTropical storm
Jan 2, 06:0020.2S 165.0E60 kt975 mbTropical storm
Jan 2, 12:0021.2S 166.7E55 kt975 mbTropical storm
Jan 2, 18:0022.3S 167.8E55 kt975 mbTropical storm
Jan 3, 00:0023.4S 168.8E55 kt975 mbTropical storm
Jan 3, 06:0024.4S 169.3E45 kt980 mbTropical storm
Jan 3, 12:0025.5S 169.6E45 kt985 mbTropical storm
Jan 3, 18:0026.6S 169.9E45 kt985 mbTropical storm
Jan 4, 00:0027.7S 170.0E45 kt987 mbTropical storm
Jan 4, 06:0029.6S 171.5E40 kt990 mbNot reported
Jan 4, 12:0030.5S 171.5E40 kt990 mbNot reported
Jan 4, 18:0031.3S 171.2E40 kt990 mbNot reported
Jan 5, 00:0032.1S 170.5E40 kt990 mbNot reported
Jan 5, 06:0032.7S 169.8E40 kt990 mbNot reported
Jan 5, 12:0032.7S 169.5E40 kt990 mbNot reported
Jan 5, 18:0032.4S 169.5E40 kt990 mbNot reported
Jan 6, 00:0032.4S 169.8E35 kt995 mbNot reported
Jan 6, 06:0032.8S 169.8E35 kt995 mbNot reported
Jan 6, 12:0033.1S 169.5E30 kt997 mbNot reported
Jan 6, 18:0033.4S 169.2ENot reported
Jan 7, 00:0033.8S 168.8E30 kt997 mbNot reported
Jan 7, 06:0034.4S 168.3E30 kt997 mbNot reported
Jan 7, 12:0035.2S 168.1E30 kt997 mbNot reported
Jan 7, 18:0036.2S 168.1E30 kt997 mbNot reported
Jan 8, 00:0037.1S 168.3E30 kt997 mbNot reported

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.