The 1991 season

Tropical Storm Joel (1991)

Tropical Storm Joel peaked at 55 kt in the Western Pacific between September 1, 1991 and September 8, 1991, with a lowest pressure of 985 mb, and made landfall.

Track and intensity

The whole track of Tropical Storm Joel, colored by strength, with the other storms of the 1991 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
Western Pacific
Dates
September 1, 1991 to September 8, 1991
Peak strength
Tropical Storm, 55 kt (63 mph)
Lowest pressure
985 mb (29.09 inHg)
Landfall
Yes
Accumulated cyclone energy
1.6
Identifier
WP181991

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
Sep 1, 00:0018.7N 125.9E10 ktNot reported
Sep 1, 06:0018.7N 124.4E15 ktNot reported
Sep 1, 12:0018.7N 123.1E15 ktNot reported
Sep 1, 18:0018.1N 122.0E15 ktNot reported
Sep 2, 00:0018.8N 121.2E15 ktNot reported
Sep 2, 06:0018.8N 120.7E15 ktNot reported
Sep 2, 12:0018.9N 120.3E20 ktTropical storm
Sep 2, 18:0019.0N 119.9E20 ktTropical storm
Sep 3, 00:0019.1N 119.5E25 ktTropical storm
Sep 3, 06:0019.2N 119.0E25 ktTropical storm
Sep 3, 12:0019.3N 118.5E25 kt1002 mbTropical storm
Sep 3, 18:0019.4N 117.9E30 kt1002 mbTropical storm
Sep 4, 00:0019.6N 117.1E30 kt1000 mbTropical storm
Sep 4, 06:0019.8N 116.3E30 kt1000 mbTropical storm
Sep 4, 12:0020.0N 115.7E30 kt1000 mbTropical storm
Sep 4, 18:0020.1N 115.1E30 kt1000 mbTropical storm
Sep 5, 00:0020.3N 114.8E35 kt1000 mbTropical storm
Sep 5, 06:0020.3N 114.8E35 kt998 mbTropical storm
Sep 5, 12:0020.5N 114.8E40 kt996 mbTropical storm
Sep 5, 18:0020.9N 115.2E40 kt996 mbTropical storm
Sep 6, 00:0021.4N 115.4E45 kt992 mbTropical storm
Sep 6, 06:0022.0N 115.4E50 kt990 mbTropical storm
Sep 6, 12:0022.6N 115.3E55 kt985 mbTropical storm
Sep 6, 18:0023.1N 115.0E40 kt985 mbTropical storm
Sep 7, 00:0023.6N 114.7E35 kt990 mbTropical storm
Sep 7, 06:0024.5N 114.3E30 kt994 mbTropical storm
Sep 7, 12:0025.5N 114.0E25 kt996 mbTropical storm
Sep 7, 18:0025.4N 113.8E998 mbTropical storm
Sep 8, 00:0025.8N 113.8E1002 mbTropical storm
Sep 8, 06:0026.7N 114.2E1002 mbTropical storm
Sep 8, 12:0027.8N 114.2E1004 mbTropical storm

Other Western Pacific storms of 1991

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.