1989 Western Pacific typhoon season
Typhoon Gay 1989
Typhoon Gay crossed the Malay Peninsula and regained strength over the Bay of Bengal in November 1989. Its compact, rapidly developing circulation caused a maritime disaster in the Gulf of Thailand before a second destructive landfall in India.
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161 mph
Nov 3, 1989 during the tropical stage
Full archive record, including non-tropical stages if present
Along the recorded center positions
STORM HISTORY
Rapid development in the Gulf of Thailand
Gay formed within the monsoon trough and intensified quickly in the narrow Gulf of Thailand. Its sudden development caught many vessels at sea. The drilling ship Seacrest capsized in heavy seas, killing 91 people, part of a much larger offshore death toll.
The typhoon crossed Chumphon Province, destroying coastal communities before emerging west of the Malay Peninsula. It then reorganized over the Bay of Bengal and continued toward southeastern India.
Renewed strength before India
The archive records Gay's peak one-minute winds of 140 kt on 8 November, during its Bay of Bengal phase. It struck near Kavali in Andhra Pradesh, then weakened rapidly across India and dissipated by 10 November.
In India, around 20,000 homes were damaged or destroyed and about 100,000 people were left homeless. Sixty-nine deaths were reported there. Gay's history links two distinct coastal disasters within a single track extending from the Gulf of Thailand to the Indian subcontinent.
Further reading
QUICK ANSWERS
Gay in brief
What was Typhoon Gay's highest wind speed?
161 mph, the highest one-minute sustained wind in its tropical stage, recorded on Nov 8, 1989, 06:00 PM UTC.
What category was Typhoon Gay?
Category 5 at its peak on the Saffir–Simpson one-minute wind scale, first reaching Category 5 on Nov 8, 1989, 03:00 PM UTC. Other agencies classify storms differently.
What was Typhoon Gay's lowest pressure?
970 mb, the minimum central pressure recorded during its tropical stage, on Nov 3, 1989, 06:00 PM UTC.
When did Typhoon Gay occur?
The archived track runs from Oct 31, 1989, 12:00 PM UTC to Nov 10, 1989, 06:00 AM UTC, with the tropical stage from Oct 31, 1989, 12:00 PM UTC to Nov 10, 1989, 06:00 AM UTC.
Where did Typhoon Gay form?
In the Western Pacific basin, in the 1989 season. Its first archived position is 7.2°N, 105.2°E on Oct 31, 1989, 12:00 PM UTC.
Did Typhoon Gay make landfall?
The archive places its center over land at 2 recorded positions; the strongest is 132 mph on Nov 8, 1989, 09:00 PM UTC. Positions are six-hourly, so this is not a landfall chronology.
METHODOLOGY
Data sources and limitations
The map and summary are generated from NOAA's IBTrACS v04r01 archive. Wind and category use US-agency records; minimum pressure is calculated during the tropical stage, with the archive's pressure source retained. Category 5 refers to the Saffir–Simpson one-minute wind scale; local agencies may use different classifications. Coastlines use Natural Earth's 1:10m land data.
Track distance adds great-circle distances between consecutive observations, excluding gaps over 12 hours. This track has no gaps over 12 hours. The line shows the storm's center, not its size, rainfall or flood extent. Converted wind speeds are rounded to the nearest whole unit.
Archive retrieved
NOAA IBTrACS archive and Field documentation
Sources & methodology