1996 Pacific hurricane season

A quiet ocean and a crowded coast

An ongoing La Niña, which had also held down activity in 1995, kept the season below normal. Its count follows the NHC best track: nine named storms, five hurricanes and two major hurricanes, Douglas and Fausto. The site counts 10 tropical storms, 6 hurricanes and 3 major hurricanes because its season list also includes Yates, a western Pacific-numbered system whose archive record starts east of the date line in mid-September. Yates peaked at 130 kt on 25 September and bottomed out at 935 hPa, the highest wind and lowest pressure in the site's season.

Colorado State University's accumulated cyclone energy for the eastern and central Pacific came to only 53.9 units, among the lowest on record. The site's figure of 95.8 is higher because it sums one-minute winds over the whole tropical stage of every storm in its season list, including Yates. None of the eastern Pacific systems crossed 140°W, the first year without such a crossing since 1979. The Central Pacific Hurricane Center tracked only two depressions: Seventeen-W, which drifted in from the west and brought 35 kt gusts and about two and a half inches of rain to Midway, and One-C, which formed near 13°N, 143°W in mid-September and never reached storm strength.

An unnamed May storm and a lost trimaran

The season opened on 13 May, when a depression formed about 800 miles south of the tip of Baja California. Forecasters held it at 30 kt on satellite estimates, but reports relayed by the Coast Guard from the trimaran Solar Wind pointed to tropical-storm winds on 14 May; the boat's anemometer pegged at its 60 kt limit for an unknown time. Contact with the Solar Wind ended after 0600 UTC that day, and the Coast Guard suspended its search for the vessel and its two-man crew. The NHC upgraded the system to a tropical storm only in post-analysis, so it never received a name.

A second depression, Two-E, formed in the Intertropical Convergence Zone on 15 May and faded out at sea four days later. The unnamed May storm was the only eastern Pacific tropical storm to form in May between 1992 and 1999.

Alma, Boris and Cristina: three strikes in ten days

Alma likely grew from the southern end of the tropical wave that also spawned Atlantic Tropical Storm Arthur, and it formed about 240 n mi south of Acapulco on 20 June over warmer than normal water. A trough near Baja California and a low over the Gulf of Mexico pulled it north. The NHC places its 90 kt, 969 mb peak at 1200 UTC on 23 June and its landfall near Lázaro Cárdenas at 0000 UTC on 24 June, still at 90 kt. The center then slipped back offshore and meandered along the coast for another 36 hours without recovering. Mexican newspapers reported three people killed when a house collapsed near Lázaro Cárdenas, and the NHC noted unconfirmed reports of at least 17 flood deaths in Puebla, probably tied to Alma's rain. Other counts give 20 deaths for the storm, and rain peaked at 19.09 inches just east of the landfall point.

Boris formed on 27 June about 250 n mi south of the Gulf of Tehuantepec and strengthened from 25 kt to 80 kt in 36 hours. It came ashore midway between Lázaro Cárdenas and Acapulco at 1800 UTC on 29 June with 80 kt winds, then fell apart over the mountains. The NHC reached a death estimate of five: one at Tecpan, three drowned nearby and a child killed by a falling roof in Acapulco, with five fishermen reported missing. The San Jerónimo River flooded 40 percent of the municipality of Coyuca, affecting at least 5,000 people. Other counts give a higher toll of ten deaths.

Cristina followed within days. It formed on 1 July about 300 n mi south of San Salvador, moved fast toward Mexico and came ashore near Puerto Ángel around 0900 UTC on 3 July just short of hurricane strength. The NHC cited Notimex reports of one fisherman drowned off Oaxaca, one missing, and 11 fishing boats with some 22 people aboard unaccounted for. Rain reached 15.12 inches at San Pedro Tapanatepec, and floods and mudslides in Oaxaca and Guerrero brought the storm's toll to 13 deaths.

Douglas, the Caribbean hurricane that crossed over

Atlantic Hurricane Cesar crossed Central America in about 18 hours and reached the Pacific on 29 July as a tropical storm, where the NHC renamed it Douglas. It regained hurricane strength within about 12 hours, and the ship Tritonhighway reported 69 kt winds just north of the center that day. Douglas ran west-northwest around a high over the western United States and peaked at 115 kt and 946 mb at 1200 UTC on 1 August, about 240 n mi south of the tip of Baja California, then weakened over cooler water and dissipated on 6 August. The NHC attributes the damage along its path to Cesar, over Central America, and a tropical storm warning covered Salina Cruz to Acapulco as a 4 ft surge reached Mexico's south coast.

A second Atlantic system crossed later in August. The remnant of Hurricane Dolly survived the trip over the Mexican Plateau and reached the Pacific as a depression on 24 August, but the NHC did not reclassify it and it dissipated near the Islas Marías the next day.

Elida, Fausto and Hernan in the autumn

Tropical Storm Elida formed on 30 August south-southwest of Acapulco and stalled near Socorro Island before passing the southern tip of Baja California at 55 kt. The NHC received no reports of casualties or damage, though other reports give six deaths offshore and seven-foot waves that closed ports along the Baja coast.

Fausto may have come from the southern part of the wave that became Atlantic Hurricane Fran. It formed on 10 September south-southeast of Manzanillo, peaked at 105 kt on 12 September and slowed as a short-wave trough eroded the ridge steering it. It made landfall near Todos Santos, Baja California Sur, at 2000 UTC on 13 September with estimated winds of 75 kt, then crossed the Gulf of California and struck the mainland near Los Mochis ten hours later at 65 kt. Mexican radar at Guasave tracked its eye through both landfalls. The NHC's only known death was a San Diego vacationer electrocuted by a downed line near Cabo San Lucas. Damage came to $800,000 in 1996 dollars and about 5,000 people evacuated, with port officials pressing boats to return to harbor after the loss of life in Hurricane Ismael a year earlier.

Tropical Storm Genevieve wandered for nearly two weeks from late September, looping far offshore and weakening and restrengthening before dry air finished it on 9 October. Hernan, the last named storm, formed on 30 September south-southeast of Acapulco and reached its 75 kt peak around 1000 UTC on 2 October, when Mexican radar at Cuyutlán showed a closed eyewall. It looped just offshore and made landfall near Barra de Navidad, Jalisco, at 1000 UTC on 3 October, weakened to 65 kt after a day along the mountainous coast. Local press reported at least 100 injuries and 1,000 homes damaged, with flooding at Melaque and washouts on Highways 200 and 80.

A final depression formed on 7 November and wind shear destroyed it by 11 November. No names were retired after the season, and the list returned in 2002.