The 1989 season

Tropical Storm Eseta (1989)

Tropical Storm Eseta peaked at 55 kt in the South Pacific between December 17, 1988 and December 28, 1988, with a lowest pressure of 980 mb, and made landfall.

Track and intensity

The whole track of Tropical Storm Eseta, 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 17, 1988 to December 28, 1988
Peak strength
Tropical Storm, 55 kt (63 mph), ten-minute wind
Lowest pressure
980 mb (28.94 inHg)
Landfall
Yes
Accumulated cyclone energy
5.3
Identifier
1988352S14166

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 17, 00:0014.3S 166.3E30 kt997 mbTropical storm
Dec 17, 06:0014.6S 166.0ETropical storm
Dec 17, 12:0015.0S 165.8E30 kt997 mbTropical storm
Dec 17, 18:0015.5S 165.6ETropical storm
Dec 18, 00:0016.0S 165.5E30 kt997 mbTropical storm
Dec 18, 06:0016.5S 165.4ETropical storm
Dec 18, 12:0017.0S 165.3E30 kt997 mbTropical storm
Dec 18, 18:0017.5S 165.3ETropical storm
Dec 19, 00:0018.1S 165.2E30 kt997 mbTropical storm
Dec 19, 06:0018.9S 164.8E30 kt997 mbTropical storm
Dec 19, 12:0019.7S 164.4E30 kt997 mbTropical storm
Dec 19, 18:0020.3S 164.1E30 kt997 mbTropical storm
Dec 20, 00:0021.0S 164.0E30 kt997 mbTropical storm
Dec 20, 06:0021.5S 164.0E30 kt997 mbTropical storm
Dec 20, 12:0021.8S 164.4E30 kt997 mbTropical storm
Dec 20, 18:0021.9S 164.9E30 kt997 mbTropical storm
Dec 21, 00:0021.9S 165.4E30 kt997 mbTropical storm
Dec 21, 06:0021.3S 165.9E30 kt997 mbTropical storm
Dec 21, 12:0020.8S 166.3E30 kt997 mbTropical storm
Dec 21, 18:0019.8S 167.1E30 kt997 mbTropical storm
Dec 22, 00:0019.0S 168.0E30 kt997 mbTropical storm
Dec 22, 06:0018.8S 169.0E30 kt997 mbTropical storm
Dec 22, 12:0018.8S 169.9E30 kt997 mbTropical storm
Dec 22, 18:0018.9S 170.8E30 kt997 mbTropical storm
Dec 23, 00:0019.1S 171.5E35 kt995 mbTropical storm
Dec 23, 06:0019.5S 172.1E40 kt990 mbTropical storm
Dec 23, 12:0019.8S 172.6E40 kt990 mbTropical storm
Dec 23, 18:0020.1S 173.1E40 kt990 mbTropical storm
Dec 24, 00:0020.6S 173.6E45 kt987 mbTropical storm
Dec 24, 06:0021.2S 174.2E45 kt987 mbTropical storm
Dec 24, 12:0022.1S 174.8E50 kt985 mbTropical storm
Dec 24, 18:0023.0S 175.0E55 kt980 mbTropical storm
Dec 25, 00:0024.0S 175.0E50 kt985 mbTropical storm
Dec 25, 06:0024.7S 174.8E50 kt985 mbTropical storm
Dec 25, 12:0025.3S 174.7E50 kt985 mbTropical storm
Dec 25, 18:0025.8S 174.4E50 kt985 mbTropical storm
Dec 26, 00:0026.2S 174.0E50 kt985 mbTropical storm
Dec 26, 06:0026.8S 173.3E50 kt985 mbTropical storm
Dec 26, 12:0027.3S 172.6E50 kt985 mbTropical storm
Dec 26, 18:0028.1S 171.9E50 kt985 mbTropical storm
Dec 27, 00:0029.0S 171.2E50 kt985 mbTropical storm
Dec 27, 06:0030.0S 171.0E50 kt985 mbTropical storm
Dec 27, 12:0030.8S 171.0E50 kt985 mbTropical storm
Dec 27, 18:0031.8S 170.9E50 kt985 mbTropical storm
Dec 28, 00:0033.0S 170.8E50 kt985 mbTropical storm
Dec 28, 06:0034.9S 170.6E50 kt985 mbTropical storm
Dec 28, 12:0036.3S 170.5E50 kt985 mbTropical 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. This storm’s winds are ten-minute averages from its regional agency. They read about 12 percent lower than the one-minute winds US agencies use, so a Saffir-Simpson category is not given for it.

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.