A Wild Hurricane Season in the Pacific

Hurricane Odile, September 14, 2014 (Source: NOAA)

The hurricane season in the Eastern Pacific recently ended on November 15.  It starts and ends a little earlier than the Atlantic hurricane season: running May 15 through November 15 instead of June 1 through November 30.  NOAA’s spring forecast for the Eastern Pacific season called for a “70% chance” of up to 20 named tropical storms, which is above the seasonal norm of 15 named storms.  Scientists cited an expectation for an “El Nino” event to develop, which usually means increased activity in the tropical Eastern Pacific.  An El Nino event is symbolized by above average sea surface temperatures west of Mexico.

As it turned out, the 2014 season in the Eastern Pacific was one of the busiest on record.  It featured 20 named tropical storms of which 15 grew into hurricanes.  Of the 15 hurricanes that developed in 2014, eight intensified into “major” hurricanes which are defined as Category 3 or higher with sustained winds of at least 111 mph.

Two hurricanes stood out this season.  The strongest hurricane to form in the tropical Eastern Pacific this season was Hurricane Marie.  It was a Category 5 – as strong as hurricanes get – with sustained winds of 160 mph at peak intensity.  It was a named storm from August 22 to August 29 but, fortunately, remained offshore and had no direct impacts on any landmasses.  However, it was a different story with Hurricane Odile.

According to the National Hurricane Center, Odile became a hurricane on September 13 and grew into a powerful Category 4 storm.  It weakened slightly to a Category 3 storm – with sustained winds of 125 mph – before it made landfall in Cabo San Lucas on September 14.  Cabo San Lucas is the resort town on the southern tip of Baja, California, where I’m writing this post from.  Damage from Odile was severe here as it was the most intense hurricane to make landfall here in over 45 years.  Fortunately, the town has recovered somewhat from the damage Odile inflicted.

The last storm to form in the Eastern Pacific during the 2014 hurricane season was Hurricane Vance, which dissipated on November 5.  The 2014 season will be remembered as being destructive and deadly with one of the higher number of named storms the Eastern Pacific has ever seen.