1992 Pacific hurricane season

El Niño and a record run of names

Warmer than usual sea surface temperatures linked to an El Niño, which ended in late summer and autumn, drove the high level of activity. Twenty-seven tropical cyclones formed east of 140 degrees west, and 24 of them became tropical storms, breaking the 1982 record for cyclones and the 1985 record for named storms. Fourteen reached hurricane strength and eight became major hurricanes.

The Central Pacific Hurricane Center tracked 11 cyclones in its region between 140 degrees west and the Date Line: eight that crossed from the east and three that formed there, Ekeka, Hali and Iniki. The best-track season total of 27 named storms combines the two regions.

The site archive counts 31 tropical storms, 20 hurricanes and 13 major hurricanes. It adds four storms that formed near or east of the Date Line but carried western Pacific designations: Hurricane Kent, Hurricane Ward, Hurricane Dan and Hurricane Gay. Their tropical stages, including the parts west of the Date Line, also lift the archive's accumulated cyclone energy to 447.2, against the 294.3 units Colorado State University calculated from National Hurricane Center data for the eastern and central Pacific, the second highest on record for the basin.

Ekeka and Hali before the season began

The monsoon trough reached across the equator into the central Pacific in late January, and Hurricane Ekeka formed north of Kiritimati, farther south than any Pacific hurricane on record at the time. It was the first recorded January hurricane in the central Pacific. It became a hurricane near Palmyra Atoll on 30 January and peaked on 2 February, at 100 kt and 990 hPa in the archive, before shear weakened it. Ekeka crossed the Date Line on 3 February and dissipated north of Papua New Guinea on 9 February.

Similar conditions produced Tropical Storm Hali near 5 degrees north in late March. It peaked at 45 kt in the archive on 29 March and dissipated a day later under southwesterly shear.

A crowded summer off Mexico

Tropical Storm Agatha opened the eastern Pacific season on 1 June. It stayed offshore, but about 1,500 people left coastal Michoacán, and flooding and mudslides from its outer bands killed ten people and left thousands homeless. Hurricane Celia followed and reached 125 kt and 935 hPa on 27 June, the first of the year's Category 4 hurricanes off Mexico.

July brought Hurricane Darby, Hurricane Estelle, Hurricane Frank and Hurricane Georgette in quick succession. Estelle peaked at 120 kt on 13 July and Frank at 125 kt and 935 hPa on 18 July, well out to sea. Darby's rainbands killed three people in Acapulco during its formation; its remnants set daily rainfall records in California and delayed the landing of the Space Shuttle Columbia by a day. Georgette crossed into the central Pacific as a depression and brought winds of about 60 mph to the Big Island.

Hurricane Lester struck in late August. It peaked at 70 kt in the archive on 22 August, then made landfall near Punta Abreojos, Baja California Sur, as a minimal hurricane and crossed the Gulf of California to hit Sonora as a tropical storm. On 24 August it entered Arizona as a tropical storm, the first Pacific hurricane to reach the United States at that strength since 1967. Mudslides killed three people and left 5,000 homeless in Mexico, and 10,000 people evacuated from flash floods.

Hurricane Iniki on Kauai

Iniki formed on 5 September about 1,700 miles southwest of Cabo San Lucas and moved west as a weak system until it became a tropical storm on 8 September in the central Pacific. An approaching upper-level trough weakened the ridge that usually keeps hurricanes away from Hawaii, and Iniki turned north over warm water. It peaked on 11 September at 125 kt and 938 hPa in the archive, about 170 miles south-southwest of Kauai, and came ashore on the island as a Category 4 hurricane.

The Central Pacific Hurricane Center had forecast Iniki to pass well south of the islands until 10 September, so the public received warnings less than 24 hours before landfall. Nearly 30,000 people evacuated to 110 public shelters on Oahu.

On Kauai, 1,421 houses were destroyed, 63 more lost to surge and waves, 5,152 severely damaged and 7,178 with minor damage. The winds brought down about a quarter of the island's transmission poles, and some areas went without power for three months. More than 7,000 people were left homeless. Iniki caused six deaths and $3.1 billion in damage, in 1992 US dollars, making it the costliest hurricane to strike Hawaii. The World Meteorological Organization retired the name and replaced it with Iolana.

Hurricane Orlene reached 125 kt and 934 hPa on 6 September, a few days before Iniki's peak, and reached the Big Island as a dissipating depression on 14 September. Its remnants washed out roads with up to 4 inches of rain.

Tina's 24 days and five October storms

Hurricane Tina formed on 17 September and wandered for weeks. It weakened, lunged north-northeast toward Mexico behind a trough, then turned west again and regained major hurricane status near Clarion Island. It peaked on 30 September at 130 kt and 932 hPa. Tina lasted until 11 October, 24 days, a record for the eastern Pacific at the time that Hurricane John broke two years later.

Five storms reached tropical storm strength in October, a first for the basin. Hurricane Virgil peaked at 115 kt on 3 October and struck a sparsely populated stretch of southwestern Mexico, damaging more than 1,000 homes across Guerrero, Michoacán and Colima. A flood on the Atoyac River swept away 500 homes in Guerrero, and a passenger train derailed on a washed-out roadbed north of Lázaro Cárdenas.

Hurricane Winifred peaked at 100 kt in the archive on 9 October, then lost its eye and came ashore east-southeast of Manzanillo the same day as a weak Category 2 hurricane, with winds of about 100 mph and a pressure of 975 mb. Floods killed three people, and Lázaro Cárdenas recorded 16.7 inches of rain. Damage in one Mexican state came to $5 million in 1992 US dollars.

Tropical Storm Xavier, Tropical Storm Yolanda and Tropical Storm Zeke used up the list. The National Hurricane Center named Zeke on 25 October, the first Z name ever used in the basin and the season's 24th named storm east of 140 degrees west. Its outer bands brought heavy rain and gusty winds to Sinaloa and Jalisco.

Kent, Ward, Dan and Gay near the Date Line

Four of the archive's strongest storms began close to the Date Line and did most of their work in the western Pacific. Hurricane Kent peaked at 130 kt and 930 hPa on 11 August. Hurricane Ward developed from a disturbance just east of the Date Line in late September and received its name after crossing into the western Pacific; it peaked at 95 kt. Hurricane Dan formed south of Johnston Island in late October and peaked at 110 kt and 935 hPa on 28 October.

Hurricane Gay developed along the monsoon trough near the Date Line in mid-November and moved west through the Marshall Islands. The archive records its peak at 160 kt and 900 hPa on 21 November, the season's only Category 5 and its lowest pressure. Gay's tropical stage ended on 29 November after it passed Guam as a much weaker typhoon and turned north.