EASTERN PACIFIC SEASON MAP
1989 Pacific hurricane season
27 recorded storms from Jan 9, 1989 to Oct 19, 1989
Last updated
The 1989 Pacific hurricane season produced 18 tropical storms, 9 hurricanes and 4 major hurricanes, with accumulated cyclone energy of 115.6. It opened with a rare January storm south of Hawaii and ended with Hurricane Raymond, the strongest at 125 kt, in early October. Hurricane Cosme brought deadly floods near Acapulco, and Hurricane Kiko struck Baja California from the Gulf of California side. Read more
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| Winona | – | 63 | Tropical storm | 1000 | 6,160 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Adolph | – | 63 | Tropical storm | 994 | 2,080 |
| Barbara | – | 81 | Cat 1 | 984 | 1,450 |
| Cosme | – | 86 | Cat 1 | 979 | 1,380 |
| Unnamed | – | 35 | Tropical depression | — | 620 |
| Unnamed | – | 35 | Tropical depression | — | 1,470 |
| Dalilia | – | 92 | Cat 1 | 977 | 4,530 |
| Unnamed | – | 35 | Tropical depression | — | 920 |
| Unnamed | – | 35 | Tropical depression | — | 410 |
| Unnamed | – | 35 | Tropical depression | — | 1,540 |
| Erick | – | 40 | Tropical storm | 1005 | 1,270 |
| Flossie | – | 40 | Tropical storm | 1004 | 1,120 |
| Gil | – | 86 | Cat 1 | 979 | 1,520 |
| Ismael | – | 121 | Cat 3 | 955 | 2,990 |
| Henriette | – | 52 | Tropical storm | 1000 | 1,080 |
| Juliette | – | 63 | Tropical storm | 992 | 610 |
| Kiko | – | 121 | Cat 3 | 955 | 560 |
| Lorena | – | 75 | Cat 1 | 989 | 2,080 |
| Manuel | – | 46 | Tropical storm | 1002 | 850 |
| Narda | – | 52 | Tropical storm | 1000 | 1,580 |
| Octave | – | 132 | Cat 4 | 948 | 1,950 |
| Priscilla | – | 63 | Tropical storm | 993 | 1,850 |
| Raymond | – | 144 | Cat 4 | 935 | 2,590 |
| Unnamed | – | 35 | Tropical depression | — | 160 |
| Unnamed | – | 35 | Tropical depression | — | 950 |
| Unnamed | – | 23 | Tropical depression | — | 0 |
| Unnamed | – | 35 | Tropical depression | — | 490 |
27 storms with an IBTrACS 1989 hurricane season record. Tracks are the archived center positions, first observation Jan 9, 1989, last Oct 19, 1989.
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
Raymond, Oct 1, 1989
Dalilia, full archive record
Mapped, but outside the counts above
SEASON HISTORY
A near-normal year that began in January
The current best track describes 1989 as a near-normal season with 18 storms, 9 hurricanes and 4 major hurricanes, the same figures as the site's archive. Several depressions never reached storm strength. On 28 August Kiko, Lorena and Manuel were active at once, one of the few times three eastern Pacific cyclones have coexisted, and no named storm formed after Raymond, leaving October without a new name for the second year running.
The first storm came in January. An upper-level trough east of Hawaii spawned a depression by 11 January, and post-storm analysis found it reached tropical storm strength on 13 January north of 20°N, an unusual latitude for January. Its rain caused flash flooding without damage on a few Hawaiian islands. It crossed the Date Line on 15 January and was named Winona only on 16 January by the Joint Typhoon Warning Center, so the Central Pacific Hurricane Center never warned on it. The archive places its 55 kt peak on 19 January, after it brushed Wake Island.
Cosme's floods and a summer off Mexico
Tropical Storm Adolph formed on 31 May, and Hurricane Barbara peaked at 70 kt on 18 June. Hurricane Cosme formed off Mexico on 18 June, turned north and reached hurricane strength on 21 June, peaking at 75 kt. It made landfall just east of Acapulco late that day with winds of 80 mph. Rain reached 16.1 inches at Yautepec San Bartolo, at least 30 people drowned, and many adobe homes were destroyed; no damage cost is known.
Hurricane Dalilia peaked at 80 kt just before crossing into the central Pacific, then passed south of the Hawaiian Islands as a weakening tropical storm on 20 July. It raised waves up to 20 feet on south-facing coasts, and more than 10 inches of rain fell in places on the southeast slopes of Mauna Loa. Hurricane Ismael peaked at 105 kt and 955 hPa on 19 August far offshore, but its outer bands earlier flooded the coast between Acapulco and Manzanillo, killing at least three people.
Hurricane Kiko in the Gulf of California
Kiko formed off Sonora on 25 August from a cluster of thunderstorms and intensified fast over the warm Gulf of California. It peaked at 105 kt and 955 hPa on 27 August, weakened slightly and came ashore near Punta Arena on the gulf side of the Baja California peninsula. It was a major hurricane at landfall and one of the strongest to strike Mexico since reliable records began in 1949. Damage was light: 20 homes destroyed and flooded highways. Kiko crossed the peninsula as a depression, and Hurricane Lorena absorbed its remnant on 29 August.
Hurricane Octave grew from a wave that had briefly formed an Atlantic depression. It peaked at 115 kt with a 948 hPa pressure on 13 September and later passed within 200 miles of Socorro Island. Its moisture reached northern California, where Redding logged 3.15 inches in 24 hours and a power cut in Lodi affected 7,000 customers.
Hurricane Raymond ends the season
Raymond formed from part of the same tropical wave that spawned Atlantic Hurricane Hugo and became a named storm on 26 September. It peaked at 125 kt and 935 hPa on 1 October, the season's highest wind and lowest pressure. A trough over Mexico turned it northeast, and it weakened as it sped up, making landfall as a tropical storm on 4 October before crossing Arizona and dissipating over New Mexico on 5 October.
In Nogales, Sonora, 4.72 inches of rain swelled the Santa Cruz River, which destroyed the Calle Obregon bridge and a riverside store; Mexican officials put damage at $250,000 in 1989 dollars. Flash flooding caused about $1.5 million in damage in Arizona in 1989 dollars, and one person died in a mobile home destroyed by high winds as the remnants crossed the United States.
Further reading
QUICK ANSWERS
The 1989 season in brief
How many hurricanes were there in the 1989 Pacific hurricane season?
The archive records 9 hurricanes (one-minute winds of 74 mph or more) among 18 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 1989 Pacific hurricane season?
Raymond, with a peak one-minute sustained wind of 144 mph (Category 4) on Oct 1, 1989, 12:00 AM UTC and a minimum central pressure of 935 mb.
How many Category 5 storms were there in 1989?
None. No storm in the 1989 Pacific hurricane season reached Category 5 on the Saffir–Simpson one-minute wind scale in the archive.
When did the 1989 Pacific hurricane season start and end?
The first tropical-stage observation is on Jan 9, 1989 and the last on Oct 19, 1989, from 27 tracked storms in the archive.
What was the first hurricane of the 1989 Pacific hurricane season?
Barbara, which reached hurricane strength (74 mph) on Jun 18, 1989, 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 1989 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