1985 Pacific hurricane season

A record count in a La Niña year

The current best track counts 24 named storms, 13 hurricanes and 8 major hurricanes, the most active Pacific season on record until 1992. The site's archive also counts 24 tropical storms and 8 majors but 14 hurricanes, because it credits Skip with its 80 kt peak. Skip formed as a central Pacific depression, crossed the Date Line and became a typhoon on the western side before recrossing as it weakened; the eastern Pacific best track treats it as a tropical storm. The archive also records Skip's 970 hPa pressure, the lowest among this season's storms. The best-track accumulated cyclone energy of 193.1 differs from the site's 202.4 for the same reason of definition, since the archive sums every tropical-stage wind in its calendar-year records.

Forecasters expected a below-normal year. La Niña usually suppresses eastern Pacific storms, but the Pacific decadal oscillation sat in its warm phase, and 1985 stands as the busiest La Niña season on record, for reasons that remain unclear. June brought five storms, a record for the month at the time, and July a record seven. By mid-October the Eastern Pacific Hurricane Center had used every name on its list and had to request emergency names; Xina became the first X name.

The June and July rush

Tropical Storm Andres formed south of Acapulco on 5 June, and Hurricane Blanca followed a day later, reaching 105 kt on 14 June, a major hurricane. Mexico closed maritime operations off Colima, Guerrero and Michoacán as a precaution. Hurricane Dolores reached 100 kt on 1 July, while Tropical Storms Enrique, Fefa, Guillermo and Hilda came and went. Guillermo's remnants brought light rain to California that helped firefighters in mid-July.

Hurricanes Jimena and Ignacio formed a day apart around 20 July, and both peaked at 115 kt. Jimena stayed about 600 miles southwest of Cabo San Lucas. Ignacio strengthened unusually far west and reached its peak in the central Pacific, where reconnaissance estimated a central pressure of 960 mb; operationally forecasters had believed it reached Category 5. A trough sheared it apart before it passed south of Hawaii, and it left 10 to 15 foot surf and light rain.

Pauline, Rick and Nele near Hawaii

Tropical Storm Linda's rainbands dropped 5 to 10 inches on the windward slopes of the Big Island and Maui in early August. Hurricane Pauline prompted a hurricane watch on 6 September, and officials asked 100,000 people to prepare before it turned north. It still raised 10 to 15 foot surf on the Puna and Kau coasts.

Hurricane Rick formed south of Salina Cruz on 1 September, sat about 800 miles east of Pauline, and intensified only after becoming a hurricane on 6 September. It peaked at 125 kt on 9 September, the highest wind of the year, after handoff to the Central Pacific Hurricane Center. A dropsonde later measured 951 mb in the eye. Rick turned away from the islands and brought only raised surf.

Hurricane Nele formed south-southeast of Hawaii on 23 October on a path like Iwa's in 1982, and officials issued a hurricane watch. It peaked at 80 kt in the archive and turned northwest through the Leeward Islands instead, passing about 100 miles west of French Frigate Shoals. Fishing boats there rode out high seas, and the Coast Guard assisted one with a broken rudder.

Hurricane Waldo, the only landfall

Waldo formed on 7 October and strengthened fast south of Baja California Sur. A trough turned it toward the mainland, and it made landfall southwest of Culiacán shortly after peaking at 90 kt, Category 2, on 9 October. Mexico reported no deaths or injuries, but 600 houses and much farmland were destroyed, the Juarez River flooded parts of Culiacán, and 10,000 people were left homeless in Sinaloa.

Waldo's moisture joined a cold front and flooded rivers across Kansas, where one person died indirectly. Flash floods also hit southern New Mexico, with damage estimated at $100,000 to $1 million in 1985 dollars. Hurricane Xina, the season's last major hurricane, peaked at 100 kt on 29 October over open water and dissipated on 5 November.