The 2008 season

Tropical Storm Mekkhala (2008)

Tropical Storm Mekkhala peaked at 55 kt in the Western Pacific between September 27, 2008 and September 30, 2008, with a lowest pressure of 982 mb, and made landfall.

Track and intensity

The whole track of Tropical Storm Mekkhala, 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
Western Pacific
Dates
September 27, 2008 to September 30, 2008
Peak strength
Tropical Storm, 55 kt (63 mph)
Lowest pressure
982 mb (29.00 inHg)
Landfall
Yes
Accumulated cyclone energy
1.1
Tropical-storm-force wind reached
75 nmi (139 km, 86 mi) from the center at its widest
Overall size
190 nmi (352 km, 219 mi) to the outermost closed isobar
Fastest the center moved
25 kt (29 mph)
Identifier
WP202008

Deaths and damage

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

Track

Time (UTC)PositionWindPressureStatus
Sep 27, 18:0015.4N 112.9E15 kt1010 mbDisturbance
Sep 28, 00:0014.8N 112.7E20 kt1000 mbDisturbance
Sep 28, 06:0014.5N 112.9E20 kt1007 mbDisturbance
Sep 28, 12:0015.9N 113.0E20 kt1001 mbDisturbance
Sep 28, 18:0016.2N 112.1E25 kt998 mbTropical depression
Sep 29, 00:0016.4N 111.2E30 kt997 mbTropical depression
Sep 29, 06:0016.7N 110.3E40 kt993 mbTropical storm
Sep 29, 12:0017.2N 109.3E45 kt989 mbTropical storm
Sep 29, 18:0017.4N 108.1E55 kt982 mbTropical storm
Sep 30, 00:0017.6N 106.8E55 kt982 mbTropical storm
Sep 30, 06:0017.8N 105.0E40 kt993 mbTropical storm
Sep 30, 12:0019.0N 102.9E1004 mbTropical storm
Sep 30, 18:0019.5N 100.9ETropical storm

Other Western 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.