1991 Pacific hurricane season

Close to average, with a quiet midsummer

The current best track describes 1991 as a near-average season, with 16 tropical cyclones: ten hurricanes, four tropical storms and two depressions, close to the averages kept since satellite coverage began in 1966. The site archive counts 15 tropical storms and 11 hurricanes. The extra storm is Hurricane Zelda, which formed just east of the Date Line in late November and carried a western Pacific designation. Both counts include five major hurricanes: Carlos, Fefa, Jimena, Kevin and Linda.

July and August, usually the busiest months in the basin, produced only two cyclones each. The Monthly Weather Review summary blamed unusual circulation patterns aloft over the tropical Pacific for a July four systems below the average of six, and anomalous flow near Baja California for a shorter gap from late August to early September.

Forecasters estimated most intensities with the Dvorak satellite technique. A NOAA research flight into Hurricane Jimena gathered a few surface observations, and track forecasts improved slightly on the previous three years.

From Andres to Hilda

Tropical Storm Andres opened the season on 16 May southwest of Baja California and spent its life drifting through a slow cyclonic loop far from land. June brought Tropical Storm Blanca, Hurricane Carlos and Hurricane Delores. Carlos weakened briefly, regained strength over warmer water and peaked on 24 June at 105 kt and 955 hPa in the archive. Delores prompted a tropical storm warning and hurricane watch from Ixtapa to Manzanillo, but no damage followed.

The one system to come ashore that year was a depression. Tropical Depression Five-E crossed the coast near Salina Cruz, Oaxaca, on 29 June and dropped up to 9.2 inches of rain in 24 hours over southern Mexico. It caused one death, destroyed up to 118 homes, injured 500 people and left two missing.

Hurricane Enrique formed on 15 July, drifted into the central Pacific as a depression and regained tropical storm strength north of Hawaii on 27 July while completing a clockwise loop. Its record runs to 2 August, the longest of the season in the archive. Tropical Storm Hilda turned north in mid-August, brought tropical storm force winds to Guadalupe Island, and its remnants carried rain over California as far north as San Francisco.

Fefa's swells on the Big Island

Hurricane Fefa became a hurricane on 31 July and peaked at 105 kt and 959 hPa on 2 August, then restrengthened over warmer water two days later before shear wore it down. Its long westward track sent swells of up to 15 feet onto the east-facing beaches of the island of Hawaii, washing debris onto coastal roads near Punaluu Black Sand Beach and closing them.

Fefa's remnants brought gusts of up to 50 mph to Hawaii and Maui and set off thunderstorms over Mauna Kea and Kohala that caused flash flooding in Kohala and Hamakua. Lightning injured two men, one walking in Hawaii Volcanoes National Park and one in Hilo. The World Meteorological Organization retired the name Fefa after the season and replaced it with Felicia.

Ignacio's floods in Guerrero and Chihuahua

Tropical Storm Ignacio grew from two tropical waves, the second of which had spawned Atlantic Tropical Storm Erika. It formed on 16 September southwest of Acapulco and made a small clockwise loop about 45 km offshore while peaking at 55 kt and 994 hPa. The center stayed offshore, but the rain did not.

Pasa de San Antonio recorded 15.43 inches of rain. Flash flooding killed 10 people in Guerrero and flooded streets in Acapulco. The storm's remnants burst several dams in Chihuahua, killing 13 more and leaving 10,000 people homeless, for 23 deaths and 40 injuries attributed to Ignacio.

Jimena, Kevin and Linda in a busy autumn

Hurricane Jimena, from the same tropical wave as Atlantic Tropical Storm Danny, intensified fast and peaked at 115 kt and 945 hPa on 23 September, holding as a powerful hurricane for three days. Hurricane Kevin formed two days after that peak, southeast of Acapulco on 25 September.

Kevin reached 125 kt and 935 hPa on 1 October, about 400 miles south-southwest of the tip of Baja California, the season's strongest winds and lowest pressure. It weakened, then rebuilt a clear eye and returned to 100 kt on 7 October before crossing into the central Pacific as a Category 1 hurricane on 9 October. It was the longest-lasting eastern Pacific hurricane on record at the time; its only effect on land was stronger trade winds as it passed north of Hawaii.

Hurricane Linda followed Kevin's track in early October, peaked at 105 kt and 957 hPa on 5 October and brought 70 kt sustained winds to Socorro Island two days later. Hurricane Marty prompted a tropical storm watch from Manzanillo to Acapulco on 8 October, then turned away over water already cooled by Kevin and Linda.

Nora and Zelda in November

Hurricane Nora formed on 7 November southeast of Acapulco and peaked at 90 kt and 970 hPa on 9 November. It was the first November hurricane of the satellite era in the basin and the strongest November storm to that point. A trough turned it northeast and sheared it apart by 12 November; Sinaloa and Nayarit likely saw about 3 inches of rain, with no deaths or damage reported.

Hurricane Zelda closed the calendar year. Its first archived position lies near 4 degrees north, just east of the Date Line, on 24 November. It reached hurricane strength on 29 November and peaked at 80 kt and 975 hPa the next day, and its tropical stage ended on 5 December.