The 2018 season

Tropical Storm Phethai (2018)

Tropical Storm Phethai peaked at 55 kt in the North Indian between December 13, 2018 and December 17, 2018, with a lowest pressure of 989 mb, and made landfall.

Track and intensity

The whole track of Tropical Storm Phethai, colored by strength, with the other storms of the 2018 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 Indian
Dates
December 13, 2018 to December 17, 2018
Peak strength
Tropical Storm, 55 kt (63 mph)
Lowest pressure
989 mb (29.21 inHg)
Landfall
Yes
Accumulated cyclone energy
2.0
Tropical-storm-force wind reached
195 nmi (361 km, 224 mi) from the center at its widest
Eyewall radius at its peak
35 nmi (65 km, 40 mi)
Overall size
250 nmi (463 km, 288 mi) to the outermost closed isobar
Fastest the center moved
15 kt (17 mph)
Identifier
IO082018

Deaths and damage

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

Track

Time (UTC)PositionWindPressureStatus
Dec 13, 00:006.5N 88.7E25 kt1004 mbTropical storm
Dec 13, 06:006.8N 88.5E25 kt1003 mbTropical storm
Dec 13, 12:006.9N 88.9E30 kt1000 mbTropical depression
Dec 13, 18:007.4N 88.1E30 kt1000 mbTropical depression
Dec 14, 00:007.6N 87.7E30 kt1000 mbTropical depression
Dec 14, 06:007.8N 87.3E30 kt1000 mbTropical depression
Dec 14, 12:008.0N 86.8E30 kt1000 mbTropical depression
Dec 14, 18:008.5N 86.3E30 kt1000 mbTropical depression
Dec 15, 00:009.0N 85.9E30 kt1000 mbTropical depression
Dec 15, 06:009.7N 85.4E35 kt996 mbTropical storm
Dec 15, 12:0010.1N 84.9E40 kt993 mbTropical storm
Dec 15, 18:0010.6N 84.5E45 kt989 mbTropical storm
Dec 16, 00:0011.4N 84.3E45 kt989 mbTropical storm
Dec 16, 06:0012.3N 83.9E50 kt997 mbTropical storm
Dec 16, 12:0013.4N 83.1E55 kt994 mbTropical storm
Dec 16, 18:0014.1N 82.8E55 kt996 mbTropical storm
Dec 17, 00:0014.8N 82.6E50 kt995 mbTropical storm
Dec 17, 06:0015.8N 82.4E40 kt1004 mbTropical storm
Dec 17, 12:0016.8N 82.5E30 kt1007 mbTropical depression
Dec 17, 18:0018.1N 83.0E25 kt1010 mbTropical depression

Other North Indian storms of 2018

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.