The 1989 season

Tropical Storm John (1989)

Tropical Storm John peaked at 40 kt in the South Indian between January 23, 1989 and February 2, 1989, with a lowest pressure of 990 mb.

Track and intensity

The whole track of Tropical Storm John, 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 Indian
Dates
January 23, 1989 to February 2, 1989
Peak strength
Tropical Storm, 40 kt (46 mph), ten-minute wind
Lowest pressure
990 mb (29.23 inHg)
Landfall
No; closest approach 224 km (139 mi)
Accumulated cyclone energy
1.7
Identifier
1989023S08103

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
Jan 23, 06:007.6S 103.3E25 kt1004 mbTropical storm
Jan 23, 12:008.2S 103.6E25 kt1004 mbTropical storm
Jan 23, 18:008.7S 103.8E25 kt1004 mbTropical storm
Jan 24, 00:009.4S 104.0E25 kt1004 mbTropical storm
Jan 24, 06:0010.2S 103.4E25 kt1003 mbTropical storm
Jan 24, 12:0010.6S 102.5E25 kt1002 mbTropical storm
Jan 24, 18:0010.8S 101.4E25 kt1001 mbTropical storm
Jan 25, 00:0011.2S 100.4E25 kt1000 mbTropical storm
Jan 25, 06:0011.4S 99.7E25 kt999 mbTropical storm
Jan 25, 12:0011.6S 98.8E25 kt999 mbTropical storm
Jan 25, 18:0011.8S 98.1E30 kt997 mbTropical storm
Jan 26, 00:0012.0S 97.1E30 kt997 mbTropical storm
Jan 26, 06:0012.0S 96.7E30 kt996 mbTropical storm
Jan 26, 12:0012.1S 96.3E35 kt994 mbTropical storm
Jan 26, 18:0012.2S 96.0E40 kt991 mbTropical storm
Jan 27, 00:0012.3S 95.7E40 kt990 mbTropical storm
Jan 27, 06:0012.4S 95.0E40 kt990 mbTropical storm
Jan 27, 12:0013.0S 94.0E40 kt990 mbTropical storm
Jan 27, 18:0013.6S 94.9E40 kt990 mbTropical storm
Jan 28, 00:0014.2S 96.0E40 kt990 mbTropical storm
Jan 28, 06:0015.3S 97.2E40 kt992 mbTropical storm
Jan 28, 12:0016.4S 98.3E35 kt993 mbTropical storm
Jan 28, 18:0017.6S 99.6E35 kt995 mbTropical storm
Jan 29, 00:0018.9S 100.8E35 kt997 mbTropical storm
Jan 29, 06:0019.5S 101.0E35 kt997 mbTropical storm
Jan 29, 12:0020.2S 101.2E30 kt998 mbTropical storm
Jan 29, 18:0020.8S 101.3E30 kt998 mbTropical storm
Jan 30, 00:0021.5S 101.6E30 kt998 mbTropical storm
Jan 30, 06:0022.1S 101.9E30 kt999 mbTropical storm
Jan 30, 12:0022.8S 102.2E30 kt999 mbTropical storm
Jan 30, 18:0023.6S 102.5E25 kt1000 mbTropical storm
Jan 31, 00:0024.3S 102.7E25 kt1000 mbTropical storm
Jan 31, 06:0025.0S 103.0E25 kt1000 mbTropical storm
Jan 31, 12:0025.3S 103.8E25 kt1001 mbTropical storm
Jan 31, 18:0025.7S 104.8E25 kt1001 mbTropical storm
Feb 1, 00:0026.3S 105.6E25 kt1002 mbTropical storm
Feb 1, 06:0026.9S 106.0E25 kt1002 mbTropical storm
Feb 1, 12:0026.6S 105.6E25 kt1004 mbTropical storm
Feb 1, 18:0026.3S 105.3E20 kt1006 mbTropical storm
Feb 2, 00:0026.0S 105.0E20 kt1008 mbTropical storm
Feb 2, 06:0025.9S 104.1E20 kt1008 mbTropical storm

Other South Indian 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.