EASTERN PACIFIC SEASON MAP
1979 Pacific hurricane season
13 recorded storms from May 31, 1979 to Nov 18, 1979
Last updated
The 1979 Pacific hurricane season produced 10 tropical storms, 6 hurricanes and 4 major hurricanes. Every storm stayed east of 140°W, and Hurricanes Enrique and Ignacio shared the season's top wind of 125 kt after bursts of rapid deepening. Only two storms reached the Mexican coast: Hurricane Andres as a minimal hurricane in June and Ignacio as a much-weakened system in October. Read more
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| Andres | – | 98 | Cat 2 | — | 860 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Unnamed | – | 29 | Tropical depression | — | 50 |
| Blanca | – | 52 | Tropical storm | — | 1,550 |
| Carlos | – | 52 | Tropical storm | — | 640 |
| Unnamed | – | 33 | Tropical depression | — | 160 |
| Dolores | – | 121 | Cat 3 | — | 2,080 |
| Enrique | – | 144 | Cat 4 | — | 1,690 |
| Fefa | – | 115 | Cat 3 | — | 1,470 |
| Unnamed | – | 29 | Tropical depression | — | 200 |
| Guillermo | – | 75 | Cat 1 | — | 770 |
| Hilda | – | 46 | Tropical storm | — | 960 |
| Ignacio | – | 144 | Cat 4 | 938 | 1,470 |
| Jimena | – | 63 | Tropical storm | — | 840 |
13 storms with an IBTrACS 1979 hurricane season record. Tracks are the archived center positions, first observation May 31, 1979, last Nov 18, 1979.
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
144 mph
Ignacio, Oct 27, 1979
Enrique, full archive record
Mapped, but outside the counts above
SEASON HISTORY
A quiet season kept east of 140°W
The site and the current best track agree on 10 tropical storms, 6 hurricanes and 4 major hurricanes. The archive also tracks three depressions that never reached storm strength, one of which moved ashore east-southeast of Acapulco on 4 September. It was an inactive season. No tropical cyclone formed in or entered the central Pacific, and accumulated cyclone energy came to 57.4.
The year used a new list of names for the first time; only Blanca and Dolores had appeared on the old four-year lists. The list returned in 1985 with no retirements.
Andres off Guerrero
Hurricane Andres formed south of the Gulf of Tehuantepec on 31 May and became the first hurricane on 3 June, when forecasters spotted a small eye. It peaked at 85 kt around 00 UTC on 4 June, then weakened and struck the coast as a minimal hurricane about 105 miles east of Manzanillo later that day.
Flights into Acapulco were canceled on 3 June. Rain flooded homes and floated cars, and winds downed power lines. Offshore, two fishermen drowned when their boat capsized, and a cargo ship rescued four people from the sinking yacht Florida II. No storm this season caused reported casualties or damage on land.
Dolores, Enrique and Fefa
Tropical Storms Blanca and Carlos stayed weak; Carlos passed about 20 miles south of Socorro Island in mid-July. Hurricane Dolores formed south of Guatemala on 17 July, deepened quickly as a clear eye formed, and became the first major hurricane, peaking at 105 kt on 21 July before turning into cooler water.
After almost a month without storms, Hurricane Enrique formed on 17 August. It weakened in dry air and cooler water, then found better conditions and strengthened from about 70 mph to 145 mph in the 24 hours ending at 18 UTC on 22 August. The archive gives it a 125 kt peak, and at 168 recorded hours it was the longest-tracked storm. Hurricane Fefa formed alongside it, raced west-northwest and peaked at 100 kt on 23 August. Hurricane Guillermo reached minimal hurricane strength in September south of Baja California.
Ignacio's pinhole eye
Hurricane Ignacio formed southwest of Guatemala on 23 October, became a hurricane on 26 October and jumped from Category 2 to Category 4 within six hours. An Air Force reconnaissance flight at 18 UTC on 27 October found peak winds of 145 mph and an eye 25 miles across; the archive records 125 kt and 938 mb, the lowest pressure of the season.
Ignacio turned north and then sharply east over colder water. Later flights found its eye shrinking to a pinhole 6 miles wide before it became ill-defined. It struck about 160 miles east-southeast of Manzanillo on 30 October with winds down to 35 mph and dissipated over the Yucatán Peninsula the next day. Tropical Storm Jimena closed the season in mid-November, weakened by cold, dry northerly winds from the Gulf of Tehuantepec.
Further reading
QUICK ANSWERS
The 1979 season in brief
How many hurricanes were there in the 1979 Pacific hurricane season?
The archive records 6 hurricanes (one-minute winds of 74 mph or more) among 10 tropical storms, with 4 major hurricanes reaching 110 mph. Counts use US-agency winds during the tropical stage.
What was the strongest storm of the 1979 Pacific hurricane season?
Enrique, with a peak one-minute sustained wind of 144 mph (Category 4) on Aug 22, 1979, 12:00 PM UTC.
How many Category 5 storms were there in 1979?
None. No storm in the 1979 Pacific hurricane season reached Category 5 on the Saffir–Simpson one-minute wind scale in the archive.
When did the 1979 Pacific hurricane season start and end?
The first tropical-stage observation is on May 31, 1979 and the last on Nov 18, 1979, from 13 tracked storms in the archive.
What was the first hurricane of the 1979 Pacific hurricane season?
Andres, which reached hurricane strength (74 mph) on Jun 3, 1979, 06:00 PM 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 1979 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