The 1989 season

Cyclone Ivy (1989)

Cyclone Ivy reached Category 3 in the South Pacific between February 22, 1989 and March 3, 1989, with a lowest pressure of 960 mb.

Track and intensity

The whole track of Cyclone Ivy, 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
February 22, 1989 to March 3, 1989
Peak strength
Category 3, 100 kt (115 mph)
Lowest pressure
960 mb (28.35 inHg)
Landfall
No; closest approach 46 km (29 mi)
Accumulated cyclone energy
11.3
Identifier
SH131989

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
Feb 22, 00:0015.0S 170.0E20 ktTropical storm
Feb 22, 06:0015.4S 169.8E20 ktTropical storm
Feb 22, 12:0015.8S 169.5E25 ktTropical storm
Feb 22, 18:0016.0S 169.3E25 ktTropical storm
Feb 23, 00:0016.2S 169.0E25 kt997 mbTropical storm
Feb 23, 06:0016.7S 168.2E25 kt997 mbTropical storm
Feb 23, 12:0017.2S 167.5E30 kt995 mbTropical storm
Feb 23, 18:0017.5S 166.8E30 kt990 mbTropical storm
Feb 24, 00:0017.7S 166.1E35 kt990 mbTropical storm
Feb 24, 06:0018.0S 166.0E35 kt990 mbTropical storm
Feb 24, 12:0018.5S 166.3E40 kt990 mbTropical storm
Feb 24, 18:0018.9S 166.7E40 kt987 mbTropical storm
Feb 25, 00:0019.3S 167.0E45 kt987 mbTropical storm
Feb 25, 06:0019.5S 167.2E50 kt985 mbTropical storm
Feb 25, 12:0019.8S 167.3E55 kt985 mbTropical storm
Feb 25, 18:0019.9S 167.6E60 kt980 mbTropical storm
Feb 26, 00:0020.0S 168.3E65 kt975 mbTropical storm
Feb 26, 06:0020.2S 168.7E70 kt970 mbTropical storm
Feb 26, 12:0020.5S 169.5E80 kt965 mbTropical storm
Feb 26, 18:0020.9S 170.1E90 kt960 mbTropical storm
Feb 27, 00:0021.3S 170.8E100 kt960 mbTropical storm
Feb 27, 06:0021.5S 171.2E90 ktTropical storm
Feb 27, 12:0022.1S 171.6E90 kt960 mbTropical storm
Feb 27, 18:0022.3S 171.9E90 ktTropical storm
Feb 28, 00:0022.6S 172.3E90 kt965 mbTropical storm
Feb 28, 06:0022.9S 172.7E85 kt970 mbTropical storm
Feb 28, 12:0023.3S 172.9E80 kt975 mbTropical storm
Feb 28, 18:0023.8S 172.8E70 kt980 mbTropical storm
Mar 1, 00:0023.8S 172.0E60 kt985 mbTropical storm
Mar 1, 06:0023.5S 171.4E45 kt987 mbTropical storm
Mar 1, 12:0023.0S 170.9E35 kt987 mbTropical storm
Mar 1, 18:0022.5S 170.4E30 ktTropical storm
Mar 2, 00:0022.3S 170.0E25 kt987 mbTropical storm
Mar 2, 06:0022.3S 169.6E25 kt987 mbTropical storm
Mar 2, 12:0022.3S 169.1E20 kt987 mbTropical storm
Mar 2, 18:0022.9S 168.9E40 kt990 mbNot reported
Mar 3, 00:0023.3S 169.2E40 kt990 mbNot reported
Mar 3, 06:0023.6S 169.7E35 kt995 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.