The 1989 season

Tropical Storm Ernie (1989)

Tropical Storm Ernie peaked at 35 kt in the South Pacific between May 6, 1989 and May 13, 1989, with a lowest pressure of 997 mb.

Track and intensity

The whole track of Tropical Storm Ernie, 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
South Pacific
Dates
May 6, 1989 to May 13, 1989
Peak strength
Tropical Storm, 35 kt (40 mph)
Lowest pressure
997 mb (29.44 inHg)
Landfall
No; closest approach 134 km (83 mi)
Accumulated cyclone energy
0.2
Identifier
SH281989

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 6, 00:0012.9S 177.8E20 ktTropical storm
May 6, 06:0012.9S 176.2E20 ktTropical storm
May 6, 12:0013.0S 174.7E20 kt997 mbTropical storm
May 6, 18:0012.7S 173.0E25 kt997 mbTropical storm
May 7, 00:0012.5S 171.4E25 kt997 mbTropical storm
May 7, 06:0012.4S 169.9E30 kt997 mbTropical storm
May 7, 12:0012.3S 168.5E30 kt997 mbTropical storm
May 7, 18:0012.4S 167.3E30 ktTropical storm
May 8, 00:0012.2S 166.1E35 kt997 mbTropical storm
May 8, 06:0011.9S 164.9E35 ktTropical storm
May 8, 12:0011.7S 163.7E30 kt997 mbTropical storm
May 8, 18:0011.9S 162.4E30 kt997 mbTropical storm
May 9, 00:0012.4S 161.3E30 kt997 mbTropical storm
May 9, 06:0012.6S 160.1E30 ktTropical storm
May 9, 12:0012.8S 158.7E25 ktTropical storm
May 9, 18:0012.8S 157.1E25 ktTropical storm
May 10, 00:0012.8S 155.5E25 kt1004 mbTropical storm
May 10, 06:0012.7S 153.9E25 kt1001 mbTropical storm
May 10, 12:0012.5S 152.6E25 kt1000 mbTropical storm
May 10, 18:0012.4S 151.5E30 kt1000 mbTropical storm
May 11, 00:0012.3S 151.0E25 kt998 mbTropical storm
May 11, 06:0012.5S 150.8E30 kt998 mbTropical storm
May 11, 12:0012.7S 150.7E30 kt1000 mbTropical storm
May 11, 18:0012.7S 150.6E30 kt1003 mbTropical storm
May 12, 00:0012.8S 150.4E30 kt1003 mbTropical storm
May 12, 06:0012.6S 150.2E30 kt1003 mbTropical storm
May 12, 12:0012.3S 149.9E25 kt1005 mbTropical storm
May 12, 18:0012.1S 149.3E25 ktTropical storm
May 13, 00:0012.1S 148.4E25 ktTropical storm

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.