The 2008 season

Tropical Storm Elisa (2008)

Tropical Storm Elisa peaked at 50 kt in the South Pacific between January 7, 2008 and January 11, 2008, with a lowest pressure of 985 mb.

Track and intensity

The whole track of Tropical Storm Elisa, colored by strength, with the other storms of the 2008 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 Pacific
Dates
January 7, 2008 to January 11, 2008
Peak strength
Tropical Storm, 50 kt (58 mph)
Lowest pressure
985 mb (29.09 inHg)
Landfall
No; closest approach 465 km (289 mi)
Accumulated cyclone energy
1.1
Identifier
SH112008

Deaths and damage

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

Track

Time (UTC)PositionWindPressureStatus
Jan 7, 18:0018.0S 175.9W10 kt1008 mbNot reported
Jan 8, 00:0018.2S 175.8W15 kt1010 mbDisturbance
Jan 8, 06:0018.4S 175.7W15 kt1010 mbDisturbance
Jan 8, 12:0018.7S 175.6W15 kt1009 mbDisturbance
Jan 8, 18:0019.0S 175.6W25 kt1003 mbDisturbance
Jan 9, 00:0019.4S 175.6W25 kt1003 mbDisturbance
Jan 9, 06:0019.9S 175.6W25 kt1004 mbDisturbance
Jan 9, 12:0020.4S 175.7W30 kt1000 mbDisturbance
Jan 9, 18:0020.9S 175.8W30 kt1000 mbDisturbance
Jan 10, 00:0021.5S 175.8W35 kt996 mbTropical storm
Jan 10, 06:0022.2S 175.6W45 kt989 mbTropical storm
Jan 10, 12:0022.9S 175.1W50 kt985 mbTropical storm
Jan 10, 18:0023.5S 174.3W50 kt985 mbTropical storm
Jan 11, 00:0024.0S 173.2W45 kt989 mbTropical storm
Jan 11, 06:0024.4S 171.7W35 kt996 mbTropical storm
Jan 11, 12:0024.6S 170.2W25 kt1004 mbTropical depression
Jan 11, 18:0024.8S 168.7W25 kt1004 mbTropical depression

Other South Pacific storms of 2008

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.