1999 Pacific hurricane season

1999 Pacific hurricane season

All the storms of the season
Formation of the first storm	June 18, 1999
Dissolution of the last storm	October 11, 1999
Strongest storm	Dora - 943  hPa  ( mbar ), 120  kn  (220  km / h )
Storms	9
Hurricanes	6th
Total number of victims	11
Total damage	Unknown
Pacific hurricane seasons 1997 , 1998 , 1999 , 2000 , 2001

The 1999 Pacific hurricane season officially began on May 15 in the eastern and June 1 in the central Pacific Ocean and lasted until November 30, 1999. These dates traditionally demarcate the period in the year when most tropical cyclones occur in the northeastern Pacific .

There have been nine named storms this hurricane season, six of which were hurricanes , with two hurricanes rated as severe on the Saffir-Simpson hurricane wind scale . During the season there were five tropical depressions that did not achieve tropical storm status. Since observations by weather satellites began in 1966 , the 1999 season, along with the 1996 Pacific hurricane season, was the second weakest hurricane season ever observed. The least active hurricane season was the 1977 Pacific hurricane season .

The few notable storms were Hurricanes Adrian, Dora and Greg. Adrian and Greg both killed several people in Mexico . Hurricane Dora was the strongest storm of the season and was quite long-lived. Dora also crossed the date line .

Storms

Hurricane Adrian

Category 2 hurricane
Duration	June 18 - June 22
intensity	85 kn (155 km / h ) (1 minute) , 973 hPa

Hurricane Adrian formed on June 18, 360 km southwest of the Mexican port city of Acapulco in the state of Guerrero . The storm moved west-northwest and became a tropical storm on the same day . On June 20, Adrian achieved category 2 hurricane status before increasing wind shear conditions quickly weakened it and caused it to be downgraded to a tropical storm. On June 22nd, Adrian broke up. Although the storm remained landless, the storm's outer bands of rain brought heavy rains that caused flash floods in Mexico . Two people were killed and another four were killed at sea.

Hurricane Beatriz

Category 3 hurricane
Duration	July 9th - July 17th
intensity	105 kn (195 km / h ) (1 minute) , 955 hPa

Beatrice's origin was a tropical wave that broke away from Africa on June 26th. The wave did not form a tropical low in the Atlantic Basin , but crossed Central America on July 4th and on July 6th the wave reached south of the Gulf of Tehuantepec . On July 9, a tropical low formed near Lázaro Cárdenas , Michoacán ; the Tropical Depression turned into a tropical storm called Beatriz that same day. During July 11th, Beatrice reached hurricane strength on a west-northwest course. Computer modeling showed that the storm had new eyewall formations before the hurricane reached its highest wind speed of 195 km / h, making it a Category 3 hurricane. The hurricane came over cooler water and broke up on July 17th. Beatrice did not threaten any country and so there are no reports of property damage or fatalities.

Tropical Depression Drei-E

Tropical depression
Duration	July 14th - July 15th
intensity	30 kn (55 km / h ) (1 minute) , 1007 hPa

The system formed off the coast of Mexico.

Tropical low pressure area Vier-E

Tropical depression
Duration	July 23rd - July 25th
intensity	30 kn (55 km / h ) (1 minute) , 1007 hPa

The system cruised in the central Pacific.

Tropical storm Calvin

Tropical storm
Duration	July 25th - July 27th
intensity	35 kn (65 km / h ) (1 minute) , 1005 hPa

As before Hurricane Beatriz, Calvin was formed from a tropical wave originating on the coast of West Africa . Calvin formed as a tropical low near Cabo San Lucas , Baja California Sur on July 25th . The poorly organized system briefly reached the strength of a tropical storm before it was torn apart by wind shear. Since the storm only moved across the open sea, there were no fatalities or property damage to report.

Tropical Depression Six-E

Tropical depression
Duration	July 26th - July 28th
intensity	30 kn (55 km / h ) (1 minute) , 1005 hPa

The sixth tropical depression was a short-lived system that could not intensify any further.

Hurricane Dora

Category 4 hurricane
Duration	August 6th - August 20th
intensity	120 kn (220 km / h ) (1 minute) , 943 hPa

→ Main article: Hurricane Dora (1999)

Hurricane Dora was the strongest storm of the season, reaching a Category 4 intensity, and was the first storm in five years to exist in all three tropical cyclone regions in the northern Pacific Ocean.

This system also arose from a tropical wave drifting over from Africa, which crossed the Atlantic without development. After the wave swept across Central America on August 4, the system began to evolve rapidly, becoming Tropical Depression Seven-E on August 6 and tropical Storm Dora a little later that day. Dora continued to intensify despite wind shear at altitude and became a hurricane on August 8th. Shortly thereafter, on a western course, Dora found herself in a somewhat more favorable environment and intensified more quickly. On August 10, Dora became a Category 4 hurricane and held that force for three days, during which the system moved almost due west. When Dora came under the control of the Central Pacific Hurricane Center on Aug. 14, the system weakened to Category 1, but regained major hurricane status when it passed south of Hawaii on Aug. 16 . Dora then began to weaken definitively when it passed Johnston Atoll south on August 18 and crossed the date line on August 20. Shortly thereafter, it weakened to a tropical storm.

Dora caused heavy swell on the Hawaiian coast and within Johnston Atoll, but no country was directly affected by the hurricane itself and no deaths were reported.

Hurricane Eugene

Category 2 hurricane
Duration	August 6th - August 15th
intensity	95 kn (175 km / h ) (1 minute) , 964 hPa

As in previous storms, Hurricane Eugene was formed from a tropical wave from the African coast that crossed Central America on July 28 and bobbed around for a few days in the eastern Pacific Ocean near longitude 120 west. On August 6, the system stepped 1,370 km from the Mexican coast to a tropical low and shortly afterwards to tropical storm Eugene. A high pressure trough forced Eugene westward and the storm became a Category 2 hurricane on August 9th. Eugene entered the central Pacific as a Category 1 hurricane, with winds of 135 km / h. On August 13, Eugene weakened 885 km east of Hawaii to the tropical low and dissolved two days later without causing any damage.

Tropical Depression Nine-E

Tropical depression
Duration	August 13th - August 15th
intensity	30 kn (55 km / h ) (1 minute) , 1005 hPa

This short-lived system developed far from land.

Tropical storm Fernanda

Tropical storm
Duration	August 17th - August 22nd
intensity	55 kn (100 km / h ) (1 minute) , 994 hPa

Fernanda formed as a tropical depression on August 17th. The storm peaked on August 19, with winds of around 95 km / h, before encountering cooler water, which weakened the storm. Fernanda moved westward and was faced with windshears that turned the storm back into a low pressure area. Fernanda disbanded on August 22nd with no impact on the mainland and therefore there are no reports of property damage or deaths.

Tropical low pressure area Elf-E

Tropical depression
Duration	August 23rd - August 24th
intensity	30 kn (55 km / h ) (1 minute) , 1000 hPa

Hurricane Greg

Category 1 hurricane
Duration	September 5th - September 9th
intensity	65 kn (120 km / h ) (1 minute) , 986 hPa

Greg formed out of a tropical low on September 5th. The developing storm migrated northwest, near the Mexican coast, before turning the system into a tropical storm on September 6. On the same day, Greg approaching the Baja California Peninsula reached hurricane strength. On September 7th, the storm hit a zone of windshear that weakened Greg, making it just a tropical storm when it landed in Baja California Sur . As such, however, it caused widespread flooding that killed nine people.

Hurricane Hilary

Category 1 hurricane
Duration	September 17th - September 21st
intensity	65 kn (120 km / h ) (1 minute) , 987 hPa

Again it was a tropical wave that broke away from the coast of West Africa on August 29 and migrated west across the Atlantic to the Caribbean . Still as a tropical wave, the system crossed Central America, where it gathered more convection and began to organize during September 10th and 11th. Satellite images show circulation movements at low altitudes and deep convection when a tropical depression formed about 765 km south-southeast of the southern tip of Baja California on September 17. When the system became a tropical storm, it was named Hilary, making it the eighth named storm of the 1999 Pacific hurricane season. It became a hurricane on September 20, with winds around 120 km / h, approximately 320 km southwest of Baja California. As a hurricane, Hilary developed an eye before the system weakened again to a tropical storm on September 20, the same day it became a hurricane. Hilary dissolved into a cloud of low-altitude clouds as it passed Baja California. There are no known reports of injuries or deaths from the storm.

Tropical storm Irwin

Tropical storm
Duration	October 8th - October 11th
intensity	50 kn (95 km / h ) (1 minute) , 996 hPa

The last storm of the 1999 Pacific hurricane season formed on October 8th. A tropical depression migrated northwest and became Tropical Storm Irwin on the same day. Irwin came within 115 km of the Mexican coast before being torn apart by wind shear on October 10. Irwin broke up about 350 miles south of Cabo San Lucas the next day , ending the 1999 Pacific hurricane season. Irwin does not pose a threat to land and therefore has no reported property damage or deaths.

Accumulated Cyclone Energy

ACE (10 4 kt 2 ) - storm:
1	45.5	Dora	6th	3.26	Hilary
2	17.3	Beatrice	7th	2.10	Fernanda
3	14.7	Eugene	8th	1.16	Irwin
4th	5.81	Adrian	9	0.49	Calvin
5	3.39	Greg	10
Total: 94.2

Accumulated Cyclone Energy (ACE) is a measure of how active a hurricane season is. It is determined by determining the wind speeds every six hours, squaring them individually and then adding them as long as they reach the strength of a tropical storm.

The ACE of this hurricane season is 94.2 10 ⁴ kt ² . Since the value is below 95 10 ⁴ kt ² , the ACE value this season is just below the statistical mean for the eastern Pacific. Hurricane Dora is one of the few Pacific hurricanes with an ACE above 40 10 ⁴ kt ² and has contributed nearly half of the total ACE of the season. However, only the ACE of Dora east of the dateline is taken into account, the ACE west of it is part of the Pacific typhoon season 1999 .

Storm names

The following list of names was used during the season for named storms that formed in the eastern Pacific Ocean in 1999. No names were removed from the list, so the list was reused unchanged during the 2005 Pacific hurricane season . It is also the same list that was used during the 1993 Pacific hurricane season . No storm names from the list were used for the Central Pacific; the next name that would have been used was Upana. Unused names are grayed out here .

Adrian Beatrice Calvin Dora Eugene Fernanda Greg Hilary

Irwin Jova (not used) Kenneth (not used) Lidia (not used) Max (not used) Norma (not used) Otis (not used) Pilar (not used)

Ramon (not used) Selma (not used) Todd (not used) Veronica (not used) Wiley (not used) Xina (not used) York (not used) Zelda (not used)

Individual evidence

1. ^ National Hurricane Center . Hurricane Adrian. ( Memento of the original from February 22, 2006 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link was automatically inserted and not yet checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. Retrieved January 21, 2007 
2. ^ National Hurricane Center. Hurricane Beatrice. Retrieved January 21, 2007.
3. ↑ Central Pacific Hurricane Center : The 1999 Central Pacific Hurricane Season . NOAA . Retrieved January 26, 2011.
4. ^ National Hurricane Center. Hurricane Hilary. Retrieved January 21, 2007.

Web links

Commons : 1999 Pacific Hurricane Season  - Collection of Pictures, Videos and Audio Files

• NHC 1999 Pacific hurricane season archive (English)
• HPC 1999 Tropical Cyclone Rainfall Pages (English)
• Central Pacific Hurricane Center archives (English)