The 2002 season

Tropical Storm Vongfong (2002)

Tropical Storm Vongfong peaked at 55 kt in the Western Pacific between August 14, 2002 and August 20, 2002, with a lowest pressure of 984 mb, and made landfall.

Radar

Reflectivity now over Tropical Storm Vongfong. Open it to see storms, cones and warnings on the map.

Open the live radar with storms, cones and warnings

Radar mosaic and map layers from NOAA MRMS. Boundaries from the Iowa Environmental Mesonet.

The storm

Basin
Western Pacific
Dates
August 14, 2002 to August 20, 2002
Peak strength
Tropical Storm, 55 kt (63 mph)
Lowest pressure
984 mb (29.06 inHg)
Landfall
Yes
Accumulated cyclone energy
1.5
Tropical-storm-force wind reached
70 nmi (130 km, 81 mi) from the center at its widest
Eyewall radius at its peak
20 nmi (37 km, 23 mi)
Overall size
130 nmi (241 km, 150 mi) to the outermost closed isobar
Fastest the center moved
30 kt (35 mph)
Identifier
WP202002

Deaths and damage

No source this site reads carries a casualty or damage figure for this storm.

Track

Time (UTC)PositionWindPressureStatus
Aug 14, 12:0014.4N 115.2E20 kt1004 mbTropical depression
Aug 14, 18:0014.4N 115.0E20 kt1002 mbTropical depression
Aug 15, 00:0014.4N 114.9E20 kt1002 mbTropical depression
Aug 15, 06:0014.5N 114.7E20 kt1004 mbTropical depression
Aug 15, 12:0014.5N 114.5E25 kt1002 mbTropical depression
Aug 15, 18:0014.6N 114.3E25 kt1002 mbTropical depression
Aug 16, 00:0014.7N 114.2E25 kt1002 mbTropical depression
Aug 16, 06:0014.8N 114.1E25 kt1002 mbTropical depression
Aug 16, 12:0015.1N 114.0E25 kt1002 mbTropical depression
Aug 16, 18:0015.4N 114.0E25 kt995 mbTropical depression
Aug 17, 00:0015.8N 113.9E25 kt1002 mbTropical depression
Aug 17, 06:0016.0N 113.7E25 kt994 mbTropical depression
Aug 17, 12:0016.1N 113.4E30 kt1000 mbTropical depression
Aug 17, 18:0016.2N 113.0E30 kt1000 mbTropical depression
Aug 18, 00:0016.4N 112.6E35 kt997 mbTropical storm
Aug 18, 06:0016.7N 112.2E35 kt990 mbTropical storm
Aug 18, 12:0017.3N 111.9E35 kt997 mbTropical storm
Aug 18, 18:0018.0N 111.7E45 kt991 mbTropical storm
Aug 19, 00:0018.9N 111.5E45 kt991 mbTropical storm
Aug 19, 06:0019.9N 111.1E55 kt984 mbTropical storm
Aug 19, 12:0021.3N 110.7E55 kt984 mbTropical storm
Aug 19, 18:0023.0N 110.1E40 kt994 mbTropical storm
Aug 20, 00:0025.0N 108.1E1000 mbTropical storm

Other Western Pacific storms of 2002

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.