1990 Pacific hurricane season

Sixteen hurricanes east of the Date Line

The current best track counts 21 named storms and 16 hurricanes for the eastern and central Pacific in 1990, twice the average hurricane count and four more than the previous record. Six of those hurricanes reached Category 3 or higher. The site archive counts 22 tropical storms, 17 hurricanes and 7 major hurricanes because it also includes Hurricane Owen, which formed in the central Pacific in November and reached its peak after crossing the Date Line, where it carried a western Pacific designation.

Colorado State University put the season's accumulated cyclone energy at 249.5 units using National Hurricane Center data, the fourth highest on record for the basin. The archive gives 294.2. That figure adds Owen's long tropical stage west of the Date Line to the eastern and central Pacific storms.

Every eastern Pacific cyclone of the year grew from a tropical wave that left Africa and crossed the Atlantic and Caribbean. Most formed between 5 and 15 degrees north, east of the longitude of Baja California, then tracked west or northwest and died over cool water. Only Marie and Polo formed outside that zone.

An early start and a crowded July

Hurricane Alma became a tropical depression on 12 May, three days before the official start of the eastern Pacific season. At the time it was the earliest named storm and hurricane of the satellite era east of 140 degrees west, a record Adrian later broke in 2017. Alma reached hurricane strength on 15 May and peaked at 75 kt and 979 hPa the next day, well west of mainland Mexico.

June brought Hurricane Boris, Tropical Storm Cristina, Tropical Storm Douglas and Hurricane Elida. Boris turned north toward a trough off the United States West Coast, and its remnants spread rain across Arizona, California, Colorado, Nevada and Wyoming; San Diego had its wettest June since records began in 1850 with less than an inch. Douglas passed within 17 miles of the Mexican coast on 22 June and dropped 11.07 inches of rain at La Huerta. Elida passed directly over Socorro Island at its peak, breaking windows there.

Four hurricanes formed in July. Hurricane Hernan and Hurricane Iselle developed a day apart and ran west-northwest side by side, and Iselle crossed Socorro Island on 25 July with sustained winds of 70 mph at the station. A depression that formed behind Hernan on 24 July never reached storm strength: outflow from Hernan sheared it apart within two days.

In August, Tropical Storm Aka became the only named storm to form in the central Pacific that year. It passed south of Hawaii, approached Johnston Island without harming it and crossed the Date Line on 13 August. Off Mexico, Hurricane Julio peaked at 100 kt in the archive, and Hurricane Kenna and Hurricane Lowell followed within days. Kenna grew from the same tropical wave that had spawned Atlantic Tropical Storm Fran.

Hernan, Marie, Odile and Trudy

Hernan peaked on 23 July at 135 kt and 928 hPa, about 207 miles south-southwest of Clarion Island. The next day it formed concentric eyewalls, the first time forecasters had seen that structure in an eastern Pacific hurricane. It held hurricane strength for six days before cooler water wore it down.

Hurricane Marie reached 120 kt on 11 September and crossed into the central Pacific on 14 September still at hurricane strength, before dissipating near Hawaii on 21 September. Hurricane Odile followed later in the month, peaking at 125 kt and 935 hPa on 26 September.

Hurricane Trudy formed south of Acapulco on 16 October and strengthened to 135 kt and 924 hPa by 20 October, the lowest pressure of the season in the archive. Satellite estimates put Trudy at least on par with Hernan and with Hurricane Max of 1987. A trough pulled Trudy north toward Baja California, and Mexican authorities closed five ports on the peninsula and the port of Mazatlán on 22 October. A ridge then blocked the turn, and Trudy stayed offshore, though Socorro Island reported hurricane-force winds for more than seven hours.

Away from land, Trudy restrengthened and opened an eye nearly 90 km wide before another trough sheared it; its tropical stage ended on 1 November. Hurricane Vance, forming beside it, looped clockwise off the southern tip of Baja California and weakened over water that Trudy had cooled.

Rachel's landfalls and Owen's late crossing

Tropical Storm Rachel was the only eastern Pacific system to make landfall in 1990. It peaked at 55 kt in the archive, crossed the southern part of Baja California Sur on 2 October and came ashore again between Los Mochis and Culiacán. Santa Anita, near the tip of the peninsula, recorded 9.85 inches of rain. Eighteen people died across northern Mexico and thousands lost their homes, and damage came to $2.5 million in 1990 US dollars. The remnants brought flooding to the Big Bend area of Texas.

Damage of $10 million, in 1990 US dollars, is listed for Vance in southwestern Mexico and Central America, without a breakdown. The other storms of the season caused no reported deaths or damage.

Hurricane Owen closed the year. Its first archived position lies in the central Pacific on 14 November; it moved west across the Date Line into the Marshall Islands region and strengthened, weakened, then strengthened again over the Caroline Islands region. The archive records its peak at 140 kt and 925 hPa on 27 November, south of Guam, making it the season's only Category 5. Owen's tropical stage ended on 4 December east of the Philippines, and no archived center position lies over land.