EASTERN PACIFIC SEASON MAP
1953 Pacific hurricane season
4 recorded storms from Aug 25, 1953 to Oct 8, 1953
Last updated
The 1953 Pacific hurricane season produced 4 tropical storms and 2 hurricanes, with no major hurricane. The first storm did not form until late August, and the last faded on 8 October. 1953 was the least active Eastern Pacific season on record, with no landfalls, deaths or damage reported. Read more
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4 storms with an IBTrACS 1953 hurricane season record. Tracks are the archived center positions, first observation Aug 25, 1953, last Oct 8, 1953.
Tropical-stage US-agency wind of 39 mph or more
74 mph or more, one-minute sustained
110 mph or more, Saffir–Simpson scale
158 mph or more at any tropical-stage observation
86 mph
No tropical-stage pressure in the archive
Unnamed, full archive record
Mapped, but outside the counts above
SEASON HISTORY
The quietest year in the database
The archive holds four storms for 1953, two of which reached hurricane strength, with accumulated cyclone energy of 24.2. The Weather Bureau's own summary for 1953 put the average of the time at six storms a year, and the season has the fewest storms in the hurricane database. The same article cautions that the lack of satellites and of reconnaissance aircraft, which first flew in the region in 1954, means some storms probably went unrecorded.
It is also the latest-starting Pacific hurricane season on record and the only one in the database with no storm before August. All four storms developed between 14°N and 20°N. The Weather Bureau office in Los Angeles issued 42 advisories during the season, most of them because of the storms' potential threat to southern California.
Four storms off Mexico
The first system formed near the Revillagigedo Islands around 23 August and reached its 45 kt peak on 25 August. The ship S.S. Sirocco measured a pressure of 981 mbar, the lowest reading of the season, though the storm never reached hurricane strength in the best track. Its remnants brought 3.22 inches of rain to Williams, Arizona, at the end of the month.
A second tropical storm formed west of the Revillagigedo Islands on 9 September, dissipated the next day and later sent rain into central California. A hurricane formed in the far southern Gulf of California on 13 September and peaked at 75 kt on 14 September. Its remnants soaked Sinaloa, and Mazatlán reported 45 mph winds without recorded damage.
The final storm developed in the Gulf of Tehuantepec on 1 October, reached hurricane strength the next day with a measured pressure of 991 mbar, and held a 75 kt peak in the best track until it dissipated at sea on 8 October.
Further reading
QUICK ANSWERS
The 1953 season in brief
How many hurricanes were there in the 1953 Pacific hurricane season?
The archive records 2 hurricanes (one-minute winds of 74 mph or more) among 4 tropical storms, with 0 major hurricanes reaching 110 mph. Counts use US-agency winds during the tropical stage.
What was the strongest storm of the 1953 Pacific hurricane season?
Unnamed, with a peak one-minute sustained wind of 86 mph (Category 1) on Sep 14, 1953, 12:00 AM UTC.
How many Category 5 storms were there in 1953?
None. No storm in the 1953 Pacific hurricane season reached Category 5 on the Saffir–Simpson one-minute wind scale in the archive.
When did the 1953 Pacific hurricane season start and end?
The first tropical-stage observation is on Aug 25, 1953 and the last on Oct 8, 1953, from 4 tracked storms in the archive.
What was the first hurricane of the 1953 Pacific hurricane season?
Unnamed, which reached hurricane strength (74 mph) on Sep 14, 1953, 12:00 AM UTC.
METHODOLOGY
Data sources and limitations
The map and totals are generated from NOAA's IBTrACS v04r01 archive. A storm belongs to this page when the archive lists it in the Eastern Pacific basin for the 1953 season, so a December storm whose track ends in January stays with its season. Storms that cross between basins appear on the page of their archive basin only.
Counts use US-agency one-minute winds during the tropical stage: 34 kt for a tropical storm, 64 kt for hurricane strength and 96 kt for major intensity, on the Saffir–Simpson scale in every basin. Local agencies classify storms differently, and official season summaries can differ from the archive. Accumulated cyclone energy sums squared winds at six-hourly synoptic times, counting observations in the calendar year. Storms with no US-agency wind are mapped but cannot enter the counts.
The map frame is the same for every Eastern Pacific season, so a track that leaves it is cut at the edge. Lines show each storm's center, not its size, rainfall or flood extent. Coastlines use Natural Earth's 1:10m land data.
Archive retrieved
NOAA IBTrACS archive and Field documentation
Sources & methodology