EASTERN PACIFIC SEASON MAP
1960 Pacific hurricane season
8 recorded storms from Jun 9, 1960 to Oct 23, 1960
Last updated
The 1960 Pacific hurricane season produced 7 tropical storms and 5 hurricanes, none of them major. It was the first year that eastern Pacific storms received names, beginning with Tropical Storm Annette on 9 June. Hurricane Celeste, reborn from the Atlantic's Hurricane Abby, and Hurricane Estelle's rain in southern California stand out in a sparse record. Read more
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8 storms with an IBTrACS 1960 hurricane season record. Tracks are the archived center positions, first observation Jun 9, 1960, last Oct 23, 1960.
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
Diana, Aug 18, 1960
Estelle, full archive record
Mapped, but outside the counts above
SEASON HISTORY
The first names east of 140°W
Forecasters named eastern Pacific storms for the first time in 1960, drawing from four rotating lists used in sequence without regard to year. Eight names were used, from Annette to Hyacinth. No storms formed between 140°W and the Date Line; those would have taken western Pacific typhoon names.
The archive records seven tropical storms and five hurricanes, with accumulated cyclone energy of 64.2, matching the current best-track totals. Each hurricane peaks at 75 kt. Hurricane Celeste ranks as the strongest because it reached that value first, on 20 July, and Hurricane Diana holds the season's lowest recorded pressure, 987 hPa.
The storm named Gwen shows how thin the record was. A single report from the ship Lord Lodrington early on 4 October prompted the name, but an Air Force reconnaissance flight found nothing left, and no track exists for the storm. The archive holds only a brief depression-strength entry on that date, outside the storm counts.
From Annette to Hyacinth
Tropical Storm Annette formed south of Mexico on 9 June and moved west until 12 June. Tropical Storm Bonny followed on 22 June, turning north and then west before dissipating south of Baja California on 26 June. In July the remnants of the Atlantic's Hurricane Abby crossed Mexico and regenerated as Hurricane Celeste, which moved northwest and faded on 22 July.
Hurricane Diana reached hurricane strength on 17 August, weakened briefly and regained it, then brushed southern Baja California before becoming extratropical in the Gulf of California on 20 August. Hurricane Fernanda formed southwest of Guatemala on 3 September and dissipated at sea on 8 September.
Hurricane Estelle formed south-southwest of Guatemala on 29 August and paralleled the Mexican coast before becoming extratropical on 9 September. Its remnants brought heavy rain to southern California, with 3.1 inches at Julian. Hurricane Hyacinth closed the season, recurving northeast from 21 October and coming ashore as a tropical depression on 23 October with unknown effects.
Further reading
QUICK ANSWERS
The 1960 season in brief
How many hurricanes were there in the 1960 Pacific hurricane season?
The archive records 5 hurricanes (one-minute winds of 74 mph or more) among 7 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 1960 Pacific hurricane season?
Celeste, with a peak one-minute sustained wind of 86 mph (Category 1) on Jul 20, 1960, 12:00 AM UTC.
How many Category 5 storms were there in 1960?
None. No storm in the 1960 Pacific hurricane season reached Category 5 on the Saffir–Simpson one-minute wind scale in the archive.
When did the 1960 Pacific hurricane season start and end?
The first tropical-stage observation is on Jun 9, 1960 and the last on Oct 23, 1960, from 8 tracked storms in the archive.
What was the first hurricane of the 1960 Pacific hurricane season?
Celeste, which reached hurricane strength (74 mph) on Jul 20, 1960, 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 1960 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