EASTERN PACIFIC · SEASON MAP
1986 Pacific hurricane season
Every recorded track, mapped · 18 storms · 22 May 1986–22 Oct 1986
Drag to pan · Pinch or Ctrl/⌘ + scroll to zoom. Keyboard: plus or minus to zoom, arrow keys to pan, and 0 to show the whole map.
| Agatha | – | 65 | Cat 1 | — | 1,110 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Blas | – | 35 | Tropical storm | — | 430 |
| Celia | – | 75 | Cat 1 | — | 1,400 |
| Darby | – | 35 | Tropical storm | — | 900 |
| Estelle | – | 115 | Cat 4 | — | 3,030 |
| Frank | – | 75 | Cat 1 | — | 2,980 |
| Unnamed | – | 30 | Tropical depression | — | 510 |
| Unnamed | – | 30 | Tropical depression | — | 390 |
| Howard | – | 35 | Tropical storm | — | 710 |
| Isis | – | 45 | Tropical storm | — | 1,300 |
| Javier | – | 115 | Cat 4 | — | 2,610 |
| Kay | – | 40 | Tropical storm | — | 1,060 |
| Lester | – | 45 | Tropical storm | — | 710 |
| Madeline | – | 60 | Tropical storm | — | 1,900 |
| Newton | – | 75 | Cat 1 | — | 1,380 |
| Orlene | – | 70 | Cat 1 | — | 560 |
| Paine | – | 85 | Cat 2 | — | 1,570 |
| Roslyn | – | 125 | Cat 4 | — | 1,840 |
18 storms with an IBTrACS 1986 hurricane season record. Tracks are the archived center positions, first observation 22 May 1986, last 22 Oct 1986.
Tropical-stage US-agency wind of 34 kt or more
64 kt or more, one-minute sustained
96 kt or more, Saffir–Simpson scale
137 kt or more at any tropical-stage observation
125 kt · 144 mph / 232 km/h
No tropical-stage pressure in the archive
Javier, full archive record
Mapped, but outside the counts above
QUICK ANSWERS
The 1986 season in brief
How many hurricanes were there in the 1986 Pacific hurricane season?
The archive records 9 hurricanes (one-minute winds of 64 kt or more) among 16 tropical storms, with 3 major hurricanes reaching 96 kt. Counts use US-agency winds during the tropical stage.
What was the strongest storm of the 1986 Pacific hurricane season?
Roslyn, with a peak one-minute sustained wind of 125 kt (Category 4) on 19 Oct 1986, 06:00 UTC.
How many Category 5 storms were there in 1986?
None. No storm in the 1986 Pacific hurricane season reached Category 5 on the Saffir–Simpson one-minute wind scale in the archive.
When did the 1986 Pacific hurricane season start and end?
The first tropical-stage observation is on 22 May 1986 and the last on 22 Oct 1986, from 18 tracked storms in the archive.
What was the first hurricane of the 1986 Pacific hurricane season?
Agatha, which reached hurricane strength (64 kt) on 26 May 1986, 00:00 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 1986 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 · Field documentation
Sources & methodology