The 2008 season

Hurricane Paloma (2008)

Hurricane Paloma reached Category 4 in the North Atlantic between November 5, 2008 and November 14, 2008, with a lowest pressure of 944 mb, and made landfall. It killed 19 people, as Wikidata records it.

Track and intensity

The whole track of Hurricane Paloma, 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
North Atlantic
Dates
November 5, 2008 to November 14, 2008
Peak strength
Category 4, 125 kt (144 mph)
Lowest pressure
944 mb (27.88 inHg)
Landfall
Yes
Accumulated cyclone energy
9.2
Tropical-storm-force wind reached
120 nmi (222 km, 138 mi) from the center at its widest
Hurricane-force wind reached
25 nmi (46 km, 29 mi) from the center at its widest
Eyewall radius at its peak
10 nmi (19 km, 12 mi)
Overall size
210 nmi (389 km, 242 mi) to the outermost closed isobar
Peak gust in the best track
145 kt (167 mph)
Fastest the center moved
22 kt (25 mph)
Identifier
AL172008

Deaths and damage

The sources count different things and are not added together.

Wikidata

19 deathsno damage figure

A community-maintained total, usually direct and indirect deaths together and damage worldwide. Joined to this storm by its IBTrACS serial, not by name.

Landfall

Time (UTC)WherePositionWindPressure
Nov 9, 01:00Santa Cruz del Sur, Camaguey, Cuba, 2 km away20.7N 78.0W85 kt (98 mph)970 mb

Landfall points the US agencies flagged in the best track. The nearest town is named from the site’s gazetteer, not from the report.

Track

Time (UTC)PositionWindPressureStatus
Nov 5, 18:0013.7N 81.7W25 kt1004 mbTropical depression
Nov 6, 00:0014.2N 82.0W30 kt1004 mbTropical depression
Nov 6, 06:0014.8N 82.1W35 kt1003 mbTropical storm
Nov 6, 12:0015.4N 82.0W40 kt1000 mbTropical storm
Nov 6, 18:0016.1N 81.9W55 kt994 mbTropical storm
Nov 7, 00:0016.8N 81.8W65 kt987 mbHurricane
Nov 7, 06:0017.4N 81.7W65 kt985 mbHurricane
Nov 7, 12:0018.0N 81.6W75 kt979 mbHurricane
Nov 7, 18:0018.6N 81.4W80 kt975 mbHurricane
Nov 8, 00:0019.0N 81.0W100 kt964 mbHurricane
Nov 8, 06:0019.4N 80.4W110 kt951 mbHurricane
Nov 8, 12:0019.8N 79.6W125 kt944 mbHurricane
Nov 8, 18:0020.2N 78.8W125 kt951 mbHurricane
Nov 9, 00:0020.7N 78.0W90 kt968 mbHurricane
Nov 9, 01:00 landfall20.7N 78.0W85 kt970 mbHurricane
Nov 9, 06:0021.0N 77.7W55 kt990 mbTropical storm
Nov 9, 12:0021.3N 77.8W35 kt1002 mbTropical storm
Nov 9, 18:0021.6N 77.9W25 kt1004 mbTropical depression
Nov 10, 00:0021.8N 77.9W25 kt1005 mbLow
Nov 10, 06:0022.1N 77.8W25 kt1006 mbLow
Nov 10, 12:0022.4N 77.7W20 kt1007 mbLow
Nov 10, 18:0022.5N 77.6W20 kt1008 mbLow
Nov 11, 00:0022.4N 77.5W20 kt1009 mbLow
Nov 11, 06:0022.1N 77.6W20 kt1009 mbLow
Nov 11, 12:0021.8N 77.9W20 kt1009 mbLow
Nov 11, 18:0021.3N 78.3W20 kt1009 mbLow
Nov 12, 00:0020.9N 78.8W20 kt1009 mbLow
Nov 12, 06:0020.8N 79.7W20 kt1009 mbLow
Nov 12, 12:0021.0N 80.7W20 kt1009 mbLow
Nov 12, 18:0021.4N 81.7W20 kt1009 mbLow
Nov 13, 00:0022.1N 82.8W20 kt1010 mbLow
Nov 13, 06:0022.8N 83.8W20 kt1010 mbLow
Nov 13, 12:0023.8N 84.7W20 kt1010 mbLow
Nov 13, 18:0025.0N 85.5W20 kt1010 mbLow
Nov 14, 00:0026.8N 85.9W20 kt1010 mbLow
Nov 14, 06:0028.9N 85.6W20 kt1010 mbLow

Other North Atlantic 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.