Tropical Storm Sam (1990)

Basin

South Indian

Dates

January 11, 1990 to January 21, 1990

Peak strength

Tropical Storm, 50 kt (58 mph)

Lowest pressure

966 mb (28.53 inHg)

Landfall

No; closest approach 22 km (14 mi)

Accumulated cyclone energy

4.4

Identifier

SH101990

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.

• Unnamed tropical depressionSouth Indian · 1990Tropical Depression30 kt
• Unnamed tropical stormSouth Indian · 1990Tropical Storm35 kt
• Unnamed tropical depressionSouth Indian · 1990Tropical Depression30 kt
• Unnamed tropical depressionSouth Indian · 1990Tropical Depression30 kt
• Unnamed tropical stormSouth Indian · 1990Tropical Storm35 kt
• Cyclone PedroSouth Indian · 1990Cat 165 kt · 982 mb
• Tropical Storm FelicitySouth Indian · 1990Tropical Storm60 kt · 970 mb
• Cyclone AliberaSouth Indian · 1990Cat 4135 kt · 954 mb
• Cyclone BaomavoSouth Indian · 1990Cat 285 kt
• Tropical Storm RositaSouth Indian · 1990Tropical Storm45 kt · 988 mb
• Tropical Depression BaomavoSouth Indian · 1990Tropical Depression
• Tropical Storm TinaSouth Indian · 1990Tropical Storm45 kt · 976 mb
• Cyclone DetySouth Indian · 1990Cat 295 kt · 954 mb
• Cyclone CezeraSouth Indian · 1990Cat 180 kt · 976 mb
• Cyclone VincentSouth Indian · 1990Cat 170 kt · 966 mb
• Cyclone EdisoanaSouth Indian · 1990Cat 3100 kt · 954 mb
• Cyclone Gregoara:WalterSouth Indian · 1990Cat 3110 kt · 927 mb
• Tropical Storm FelanaSouth Indian · 1990Tropical Storm45 kt · 991 mb
• Cyclone AlexSouth Indian · 1990Cat 4130 kt · 927 mb
• Tropical Storm HantaSouth Indian · 1990Tropical Storm45 kt · 991 mb
• Tropical Storm BessiSouth Indian · 1990Tropical Storm40 kt · 990 mb
• Tropical Storm IkonjoSouth Indian · 1990Tropical Storm55 kt · 976 mb

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.

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.