EASTERN PACIFIC · SEASON MAP

2008 Pacific hurricane season

Every recorded track, mapped · 19 storms · 29 May 2008–5 Nov 2008

ACCUMULATED CYCLONE ENERGY82.2
2008 Pacific hurricane season: every recorded storm trackRecorded tracks of all 19 storms, colored by the wind category at each observation. Hover or focus a storm in the table to highlight its track.UNITED STATESMEXICOCUBACHINAJAPANPHILIPPINESINDIAGulf of MexicoAtlantic OceanPacific OceanPhilippine SeaArabian SeaBay of BengalAlma: 29 May–30 May, peak 55 kt, Tropical stormBoris: 27 Jun–4 Jul, peak 70 kt, Category 1Cristina: 27 Jun–30 Jun, peak 45 kt, Tropical stormDouglas: 1 Jul–4 Jul, peak 35 kt, Tropical stormUnnamed: 5 Jul–7 Jul, peak 30 kt, Tropical depressionElida: 11 Jul–19 Jul, peak 90 kt, Category 2Fausto: 16 Jul–22 Jul, peak 80 kt, Category 1Genevieve: 21 Jul–27 Jul, peak 65 kt, Category 1Hernan: 6 Aug–12 Aug, peak 105 kt, Category 3Iselle: 13 Aug–16 Aug, peak 45 kt, Tropical stormKika: 14 Aug–16 Aug, peak 20 kt, Tropical depressionJulio: 23 Aug–26 Aug, peak 45 kt, Tropical stormKarina: 2 Sep–3 Sep, peak 35 kt, Tropical stormLowell: 6 Sep–11 Sep, peak 45 kt, Tropical stormMarie: 1 Oct–6 Oct, peak 70 kt, Category 1Norbert: 4 Oct–12 Oct, peak 115 kt, Category 4Odile: 8 Oct–12 Oct, peak 50 kt, Tropical stormUnnamed: 23 Oct–24 Oct, peak 30 kt, Tropical depressionPolo: 2 Nov–5 Nov, peak 40 kt, Tropical storm

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Whole season

DepressionTropical stormCat 1Cat 2Cat 3Cat 4Cat 5Post-tropical
Every storm of the 2008 Pacific hurricane season. Column headers sort the list.
Alma55Tropical storm994310
Boris70Cat 19851,850
Cristina45Tropical storm999950
Douglas35Tropical storm1003690
Unnamed30Tropical depression1005320
Elida90Cat 29703,020
Fausto80Cat 19772,050
Genevieve65Cat 19872,350
Hernan105Cat 39562,390
Iselle45Tropical storm9991,390
Kika20Tropical depression1010520
Julio45Tropical storm998710
Karina35Tropical storm1000250
Lowell45Tropical storm998890
Marie70Cat 19842,330
Norbert115Cat 49451,660
Odile50Tropical storm9971,070
Unnamed30Tropical depression1008880
Polo40Tropical storm1003690

19 storms with an IBTrACS 2008 hurricane season record. Tracks are the archived center positions, first observation 29 May 2008, last 5 Nov 2008.

Tropical storms16

Tropical-stage US-agency wind of 34 kt or more

Hurricanes7

64 kt or more, one-minute sustained

Major (Category 3+)2

96 kt or more, Saffir–Simpson scale

Category 50

137 kt or more at any tropical-stage observation

Strongest stormNorbert

115 kt · 132 mph / 213 km/h

Lowest pressure945 hPa

Norbert, 8 Oct 2008

Longest track record18.3 days

Marie, full archive record

Storms without US-agency wind0

Mapped, but outside the counts above

QUICK ANSWERS

The 2008 season in brief

How many hurricanes were there in the 2008 Pacific hurricane season?

The archive records 7 hurricanes (one-minute winds of 64 kt or more) among 16 tropical storms, with 2 major hurricanes reaching 96 kt. Counts use US-agency winds during the tropical stage.

What was the strongest storm of the 2008 Pacific hurricane season?

Norbert, with a peak one-minute sustained wind of 115 kt (Category 4) on 8 Oct 2008, 18:00 UTC and a minimum central pressure of 945 hPa.

How many Category 5 storms were there in 2008?

None. No storm in the 2008 Pacific hurricane season reached Category 5 on the Saffir–Simpson one-minute wind scale in the archive.

When did the 2008 Pacific hurricane season start and end?

The first tropical-stage observation is on 29 May 2008 and the last on 5 Nov 2008, from 19 tracked storms in the archive.

What was the first hurricane of the 2008 Pacific hurricane season?

Boris, which reached hurricane strength (64 kt) on 1 Jul 2008, 00:00 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 2008 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 · Field documentation

Sources & methodology