1979 Pacific hurricane season
The
1979 Pacific hurricane season officially started
May 15,
1979 in the eastern Pacific, and
June 1,
1979 in the central Pacific, and lasted until
November 30, 1979. These dates conventionally delimit the period of each year when most
tropical cyclones form in the northeast
Pacific Ocean.
The first storm formed on
May 31, and the last storm dissipated on
November 18. With ten storms, less than two-thirds of the average of seventeen, this season was very inactive. There were six hurricanes, also below average.
Most East Pacific storms are of no threat to land. Only ones that made landfall or are notable in some way are mentioned.
In early June, Hurricane Andres approached the Mexican coast and disintegrated rapidly as it approached. It made landfall as a weak depression on
June 4.
In late October, Hurricane Ignacio reached Category 4 status. It then made a hairpin turn and approached the Mexican coast. It weakened to a tropical storm and made landfall on
October 30.
The following names were used for named storms that formed in the eastern Pacific in 1979. This was the first season to use the modern six-year lists. Names that were not assigned are marked in
gray.
* Andres
* Blanca
* Carlos
* Dolores
* Enrique
* Fefa
* Guillermo |
* Hilda
* Ignacio
* Jimena
* Kevin (unused)
* Linda (unused)
* Marty (unused)
* Nora (unused) |
* Olaf (unused)
* Pauline (unused)
* Rick (unused)
* Sandra (unused)
* Terry (unused)
* Vivian (unused)
* Waldo (unused) |
This was the first year that the
Central Pacific Hurricane Center's area of responsibility was officially considered part of the eastern Pacific. It was also the first year that it had its own list of names, rather than using names from the western Pacific typhoon list.
No names from the central Pacific list were used. The first name would have been Akoni.
*
1979 Atlantic hurricane season*
1979 Pacific typhoon season*
Unisys Weather archive for the Eastern Pacific, 1979*
Central Pacific Hurricane Center archive
