Eastern Pacific hurricanes: Mexico, Hawaii and the open ocean
Most eastern Pacific hurricanes never reach land. The Pacific file carries landfall records almost only from 1989 on, and of the 727 Pacific storms since then, 105 have one, 14%, against 45% of Atlantic storms over the same seasons. Those that do come ashore almost all hit Mexico, led by Baja California Sur with 32 storms. Hawaii has a single landfall record in the file, Iselle (2014), at tropical-storm strength.
Where the tracks go
The tracks themselves show why so few storms reach a coast. Of the 673 storms that formed in the eastern Pacific from 1989 on, 94% ended their tropical life west of where it began. The middle storm finished about 700 miles west of its starting point and 5.8 degrees of latitude farther north, which carries most tracks away from Mexico rather than toward it.
Where landfalls do happen, the Baja California peninsula takes a large share: 41 of the 124 Mexican landfall records from Pacific storms since 1989 are in Baja California Sur or Baja California, and the rest are spread along the mainland coast.
Landfalls in Mexico
| State | Storms | As hurricanes | As major | Strongest landfall |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Baja California Sur | 32 | 15 | 2 | Odile (2014), 125 mph |
| Sinaloa | 20 | 9 | 2 | Lane (2006), 125 mph |
| Oaxaca | 15 | 5 | 1 | Erick (2025), 125 mph |
| Jalisco | 10 | 6 | 2 | Patricia (2015), 150 mph |
| Sonora | 10 | 1 | 0 | Norbert (2008), 85 mph |
| Guerrero | 9 | 6 | 2 | Otis (2023), 160 mph |
| Michoacán | 9 | 2 | 0 | Virgil (1992), 110 mph |
| Colima | 4 | 2 | 1 | Pacific Storm 12 of 1959, 140 mph |
| Baja California | 3 | 1 | 0 | Nora (1997), 80 mph |
| Chiapas | 2 | 1 | 0 | Barbara (2013), 80 mph |
| Nayarit | 2 | 2 | 2 | Kenna (2002), 140 mph |
In all, 96 different Pacific storms have a landfall record in Mexico. Baja California Sur's strongest is Odile (2014), which came ashore at 125 mph. The strongest Pacific landfall in the file is Otis (2023) in Guerrero at 160 mph; Patricia (2015), the strongest storm in either basin with a peak of 215 mph, had weakened to 150 mph by its landfall in Jalisco.
The strongest Pacific landfalls
The eight strongest landfall records in the Pacific file all fall on Mexican coasts, and 5 of the eight are dated October. The busiest landfall season since 1989 is 2022, with 7 storms that have a landfall record, followed by 2018 with 6.
| Storm | Landfall | Date | Wind |
|---|---|---|---|
| Otis (2023) | Guerrero | October 25, 2023 | 160 mph |
| Patricia (2015) | Jalisco | October 23, 2015 | 150 mph |
| Pacific Storm 12 of 1959 | Colima | October 27, 1959 | 140 mph |
| Kenna (2002) | Nayarit | October 25, 2002 | 140 mph |
| Lidia (2023) | Jalisco | October 11, 2023 | 140 mph |
| Lane (2006) | Sinaloa | September 16, 2006 | 125 mph |
| Odile (2014) | Baja California Sur | September 15, 2014 | 125 mph |
| Erick (2025) | Oaxaca | June 19, 2025 | 125 mph |
Outside Mexico and Hawaii, Pacific storms have landfall records in Colombia, El Salvador, Guatemala, Honduras, Nicaragua and Venezuela: 10 storms in all, 3 of them at hurricane strength when they came ashore.
Hawaii and the central Pacific
West of 140°W the file covers the central Pacific, where the Central Pacific Hurricane Center in Honolulu names storms. The file holds 82 storms that formed there, 34 of which became hurricanes, and 248 eastern or central Pacific storms reached west of 140°W while still tropical.
Landfall records near Hawaii are sparse. The file's only Hawaii landfall is Iselle (2014) on the Big Island. Two storms whose six-hourly track runs across Kauai carry no landfall record: Iniki (1992), which crossed at hurricane strength, and Dot (1959), which crossed while weakening from a hurricane to a tropical storm. Neither appears in the landfall counts on this site. Their tracks, and every other storm that passed near the islands, can be found with the storm finder around Honolulu.
Storms that head west
Many eastern Pacific hurricanes run west for days over open water. Of the 569 hurricanes that formed in the eastern Pacific, 68 were still hurricanes west of 140°W, inside the central Pacific's area of responsibility. The three with the most accumulated cyclone energy among them are John (1994), Fico (1978) and Dora (2023).
A smaller group went further. In the Pacific file, 20 storms crossed the date line at tropical-storm strength or more, which carries them into the western Pacific. The first in the file is Della (1957); since 2000 the file lists 8 more, the latest Dora (2023).
Major hurricanes on the Mexican coast
Major-hurricane landfalls are rare on Mexico's Pacific coast and spread thinly. Since 1989, 45 Pacific storms reached Mexico as hurricanes, against 22 Atlantic storms on its Gulf and Caribbean coasts. The file holds 12 landfall records at Category 3 or stronger there, and no state has more than two: Baja California Sur (2), Guerrero (2), Jalisco (2), Nayarit (2), Sinaloa (2), Colima (1) and Oaxaca (1). The landfall pages for Guerrero, Jalisco and Baja California Sur list every storm.
Measured from Honolulu, 13 storms in the Pacific file passed within 100 miles of the city while tropical, 2 of them as hurricanes at their closest. The nearest pass was Raymond (1983), 8 miles away. Oahu has no landfall record in the file.
The open ocean
The Pacific file also holds some of the longest-lived storms in either basin. Ioke (2006) has the largest accumulated cyclone energy of any storm in the two files, 85.3, from a track that ran through the central Pacific into the western Pacific. Of the Pacific's 603 hurricanes, 46 have a landfall record in Mexico at hurricane strength.
Where to look next
The season pages map every Pacific season from 1970, and the Pacific Category 5 page shows the strongest storms, almost none of which made landfall.
Sources
NOAA National Hurricane Center, HURDAT2 Atlantic 1851–2025 and Northeast and North Central Pacific 1949–2025. Landsea, C. W. and J. L. Franklin, 2013, Monthly Weather Review 141, 3576–3592. Counts, ranks and totals worked out on this site; see how to read the record.